Sadiq Khan facts for kids

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The Right Honourable

Sir Sadiq Khan

Khan in 2020

Mayor of London

Incumbent

Assumed office
9 May 2016

Deputy

Joanne McCartney

Preceded by

Boris Johnson

Shadow Cabinet posts

Shadow Secretary of State for Justice Shadow Lord Chancellor
In office 8 October 2010 – 11 May 2015
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Jack Straw
Succeeded by	The Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Shadow Minister for London
In office 16 January 2013 – 11 May 2015
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Tessa Jowell
Succeeded by	Vacant
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
In office 12 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman (Acting) Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Theresa Villiers
Succeeded by	Maria Eagle

Ministerial offices

Minister of State for Transport
In office 9 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	The Lord Adonis
Succeeded by	Theresa Villiers
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
In office 5 October 2008 – 9 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Parmjit Dhanda
Succeeded by	Shahid Malik

Member of Parliament
for Tooting

In office
5 May 2005 – 9 May 2016

Preceded by

Tom Cox

Succeeded by

Rosena Allin-Khan

Personal details

Born

Sadiq Aman Khan

8 October 1970 (age 54)
Tooting, London, England

Political party

Labour

Spouse

Saadiya Ahmed

(m. 1994)

Children

Alma mater

University of North London
University of Law

Awards

Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2018)

Signature

Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (born 8 October 1970) is a British politician. He has been the Mayor of London since 2016. Before this, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 to 2016. He is a member of the Labour Party. Khan is known for his social democratic views, which means he believes in fairness and equality for everyone.

Sadiq Khan was born in Tooting, South London. His family came from Pakistan. He studied law at the University of North London. After university, he became a lawyer who focused on human rights. He also led a group called Liberty for three years. Khan joined the Labour Party and became a local council member for Wandsworth from 1994 to 2006. In 2005, he was elected as an MP for Tooting.

As Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has introduced new ways to pay for bus and tram travel. He has also brought in charges for older, more polluting vehicles to help clean up London's air. He strongly supported the UK staying in the European Union. Khan has been re-elected as Mayor twice, in 2021 and 2024. He is the first London mayor to win three terms.

Early Life and Education
Becoming a Lawyer
Life as an MP
Mayor of London
His Views and Awards
- Awards and Recognition
Personal Life
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Education

Sadiq Aman Khan was born on 8 October 1970. He was born at St George's Hospital in Tooting, South London. His family was working-class and Muslim. His grandparents moved from India to Pakistan in 1947. His parents, Amanullah and Sehrun, came to London from Pakistan in 1968. Sadiq was the fifth of eight children. His father was a bus driver, and his mother was a seamstress.

Ernest Bevin School in Tooting, where Sadiq Khan studied.

Khan and his siblings grew up in a three-bedroom council flat in Earlsfield. He went to Fircroft Primary School. Then he attended Ernest Bevin School, a local comprehensive school. He studied science and maths, hoping to become a dentist. However, a teacher suggested he study law because he was good at arguing. This idea, along with a TV show called L.A. Law, inspired him. He studied Law at the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University).

From a young age, Khan worked to help his family. He had a paper round and a Saturday job. He also worked on a building site during some summers. His family often faced racism. This led him and his brothers to start boxing at the Earlsfield Amateur Boxing Club. While at university, he worked at the Peter Jones department store.

Becoming a Lawyer

Before becoming an MP in 2005, Sadiq Khan worked as a solicitor. After finishing his law degree in 1991, he took his final exams at the College of Law in Guildford. In 1994, he married Saadiya Ahmed, who was also a solicitor.

In 1994, Khan started as a trainee solicitor at a firm called Christian Fisher. This firm mostly handled cases where people received legal aid (help with legal costs). Khan became a partner at the firm in 1997. He specialized in human rights law. When one of the partners left in 2002, the firm changed its name to Christian Khan. Khan left the firm in 2004. He left because he was chosen to be the Labour candidate for the Tooting area in Parliament.

During his time as a lawyer, he worked on cases involving employment and discrimination law. He also worked on cases against the police. For example, in 2000, he helped a group of Kurdish actors. They were wrongly arrested by the police during a play rehearsal. Khan helped them get £150,000 in damages.

Life as an MP

Before becoming an MP, Khan was a local council member for Wandsworth Council from 1994 to 2006. He was given the title of Honorary Alderman of Wandsworth when he left local politics.

In 2005, Khan was elected to Parliament as the MP for Tooting. He was chosen by the Labour Party to represent the area.

Sadiq Khan in 2009.

Khan was one of the Labour MPs who opposed Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to hold terror suspects for 90 days without charge. For this, a magazine called The Spectator gave him the "Newcomer of the Year Award" in 2005. They said he spoke clearly about difficult issues like terrorism.

In 2006, Khan signed a letter to Tony Blair. The letter, signed by many prominent Muslims, criticized UK foreign policy. It said that the 2003 invasion of Iraq had harmed civilians and helped extremists.

In 2008, Khan became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. This was under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In June 2009, he was promoted to Minister of State for Transport. He was the first Muslim to attend British Cabinet meetings, even though he was not a full member of the Cabinet. As Transport Minister, Khan supported plans to expand Heathrow Airport.

Sadiq Khan speaking in 2011.

In 2010, Khan was re-elected as the MP for Tooting. After Labour lost the 2010 general election, Khan became a key supporter of Ed Miliband. Miliband was running to become the new Labour leader. Khan managed Miliband's successful campaign. After Miliband became leader, Khan was given important roles in his team. He became the Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Justice Secretary.

In 2013, Miliband also made Khan the Shadow Minister for London. Khan helped lead Labour's campaign for the 2014 London local elections. The party gained more control in the city. By this time, people started talking about Khan running for Mayor of London. He was re-elected as MP for Tooting in 2015. On 9 May 2016, Khan resigned as an MP to become Mayor of London.

Mayor of London

In 2016, Sadiq Khan ran to become the Mayor of London. He won with 57% of the votes. He became London's third Mayor. He is also London's first Muslim mayor and first mayor from an ethnic minority background. Khan was officially sworn in at a special ceremony in Southwark Cathedral.

Becoming the Labour Candidate

After the 2015 general election, Khan decided to run for the Labour Party's nomination for London Mayor. He quickly gained support from important people in the party. He also got backing from major trade unions. His main rival for the Labour nomination was Tessa Jowell. Khan won the nomination in September 2015. He received 48,152 votes (58.9%).

The Mayoral Campaign

Khan promised that if he was elected, he would freeze public transport fares in London for four years. He also changed his mind about Heathrow Airport expansion and now opposed it. Instead, he wanted to expand Gatwick Airport. He talked about making housing more affordable in London. He wanted to build more homes on land owned by Transport for London (TfL). He said that at least half of these new homes should be "genuinely affordable."

Map of Greater London boroughs showing those that voted for Khan (red) and Goldsmith (blue) in the 2016 mayoral election.

Khan won the election with 1.3 million votes. This was the largest number of votes any UK politician had personally received at that time. Many news sources noted that Khan was the first Muslim to become mayor of a major Western capital city.

Re-election Campaigns

After the 2019 general election, there was talk that Khan might run to become the leader of the Labour Party. However, he decided to run for a second term as Mayor of London instead. In the 2021 London mayoral election, Khan was re-elected. He defeated the Conservative candidate, Shaun Bailey.

In 2024, Khan ran for a third term as Mayor. He was re-elected in the 2024 London mayoral election. He defeated the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall. This made him the first person to be elected to serve three terms as the Mayor of London.

What the Mayor Does

Khan with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at London City Hall, October 2016.

As Mayor, Sadiq Khan has focused on several key areas for London.

Helping Londoners Move Around

Khan immediately introduced a "Hopper" bus ticket. This allows passengers to take two bus and tram journeys within an hour for the price of one. This helps people on lower incomes. In 2018, this system was improved to offer unlimited journeys within an hour. In 2016, Khan also ordered TfL to ban any advertising on its network that was considered to make people feel bad about their bodies. In August 2016, he launched the 24-hour Night Tube service on Fridays and Saturdays.

Khan supported expanding London City Airport. He also urged the government to support expansion at Gatwick Airport instead of Heathrow. He said this would bring "substantial economic benefits" to London.

In August 2020, Khan announced that Crossrail, a new rail link, was delayed until 2022. It needed an extra £1.1 billion to finish. The line was originally supposed to open in 2018.

Cleaner Air for London

Khan has called air pollution "the biggest public health emergency of a generation." In October 2017, he introduced the Toxicity Charge (T-charge). This charged an extra £10 for older, more polluting vehicles. In 2019, he introduced the "Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)" in Central London. This charges owners of the most polluting cars £12.50 per day. The ULEZ was expanded to cover all of Greater London in August 2023. This charge applies to diesel cars and vans that don't meet the latest standards. It also applies to most petrol cars made before 2005.

In September 2017, Khan announced that 50 primary schools in highly polluted areas would get air quality checks. The goal was to reduce air pollution around more and more schools.

Khan is also overseeing the building of the Silvertown Tunnel. This tunnel under the Thames River in Greenwich is meant to help with traffic. However, some environmental groups worry it will lead to more cars and worse air quality.

Housing in London

In his first weeks as Mayor, Khan criticized foreign investors. He said they treated homes in London like "gold bricks for investment." He wanted them to invest in building "affordable homes" for Londoners. He set up a new agency called Homes for Londoners to help with this.

Khan also launched a "No Nights Sleeping Rough" taskforce in October 2016. This group works to help young people who are homeless in London.

COVID-19 Pandemic Response

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Khan faced challenges. He was the first British political leader to ask people to wear face masks in public in April 2020. In May, Transport for London (TfL), which Khan chairs, asked the government for £2 billion to keep services running. On 14 May, Khan and the UK Government agreed on a £1.6 billion emergency funding package. To get this money, Khan had to agree to raise TfL fares. This went against a promise he made during his election campaign.

From June 2020, Khan increased the London Congestion Charge to £15 a day. It also applied for more hours, including weekends.

His Views and Awards

Khan at an Eid al-Fitr event in Trafalgar Square, London, in 2019.

Sadiq Khan is seen as a social democrat. This means he believes in fairness and equality for everyone in society. He has described himself as a "proud feminist." He believes in equal rights for women.

Khan has received death threats from extremists. This happened after he voted in favor of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, which allowed same-sex marriage. He was also threatened by a far-right group.

Khan with former president Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative, September 2016.

Journalists have described Khan as clever and not afraid to fight for what he believes in. He used to perform comedy before becoming Mayor.

Khan has had disagreements with former US president Donald Trump. In 2016, Khan criticized Trump's idea of a "Muslim ban." Trump then attacked Khan on Twitter. In 2019, Khan compared Trump to "European dictators of the 1930s and 40s." Trump responded by calling him a "stone-cold loser."

In June 2020, Khan said that some statues of slave traders in London "should be taken down." He set up the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to review London's statues and monuments.

Awards and Recognition

In 2009, he became a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council. This means he can use the title "The Right Honourable" for life.
In 2005, The Spectator magazine gave Khan the Newcomer of the Year award.
He won the Politician of the Year Award at the British Muslim Awards in February 2016.
In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Law.
In 2018, Pakistan gave him the Sitara-e-Pakistan award for his services to the country.
In 2018, he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
In 2024, Khan won the Local Government Award at EPG's Political and Public awards.

Personal Life

Sadiq Khan is a practicing Muslim. He observes the fast during Ramadan and regularly attends Al-Muzzammil Mosque in Tooting. He is described as a moderate, socially liberal Muslim.

Khan married Saadiya Ahmed, a fellow solicitor, in 1994. They have two daughters, who were raised in the Islamic faith. He supports Liverpool F.C., a football team.