London Mayor Sadiq Khan addresses becoming a member of Keir Starmer’s Cabinet hearsay
Labour mayor Sadiq Khan has warned Londoners against a protest vote for the Green Party at the local elections as ‘public office isn’t about protest, it’s about service’
Sadiq Khan has warned Londoners against a protest vote for the Green Party at the local elections as “public office isn’t about protest, it’s about service”.
The London mayor threw his weight behind Keir Starmer but batted away claims he could join the PM’s Cabinet to give him a boost after what is expected to be an electoral mauling next month.
Reports emerged last month that Mr Starmer is planning to offer Sir Sadiq a place in the House of Lords and a Cabinet minister position in a reset of his Government. But Sir Sadiq joked that he’d only take a job offered by Liverpool football team’s manager Arne Slot.
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The mayor – who is a Liverpool fan – told The Mirror: “Listen, I think the only job I’d accept right now is if Arne Slot said to me: ‘Sadiq, I need you, because we’re having a rubbish season, I need you to take on PSG, and then help us call it for the Champions League.’ That’s the only job I’d consider taking other than the mayor.”
Pressed if he’d consider taking a peerage, he said: “Nobody’s offered one to me. When he offers one to me, I’ll get back to you.”
Experts have warned Labour could lose “well over” 1,000 councillors in May’s crunch local elections . All 32 boroughs in London are up for election. Labour is currently dominant in the capital but the vote is at risk of splintering between parties across the city.
“I think Londoners are considering voting for all five parties and there are five parties now I think they’re considering: Labour and the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, but also Greens and Reform,” Sir Sadiq said.
Asked about Labour voters choosing the Green Party as a protest vote, the mayor said: “Of course I can understand why people may lend their vote to somebody else. All I would say, in a respectful way is, public office isn’t about protest, it’s about service.
“So all I’d say, in a respectful way to Londoners flirting with protest is actually, look at the record of the last 20 months compared to the previous 14 years. Will you get more delivery locally with a council that believes in protest, or one that works with a Labour mayor and a Labour government?”
Sir Sadiq said he is trying to “encourage Londoners to vote on the track record of their local councils, rather than using it as a referendum on the imperfections of a Labour government”.
But he admitted that local elections are more difficult for a party who is in national government, saying: “It’s particularly hard because there’s a Labour government and so people who voted for change last July haven’t seen that change coming as quickly as they’d have hoped, but it’s difficult to turn around 14 years of austerity in 21 months. And so all I’d say to Londoners, in a respectful way, is, bear with us.”
The Labour heavyweight threw his weight behind Mr Starmer – who has faced challenges to his leadership – and said the UK is in a “sea of calm” compared to other countries. “It’s worth recognising, bearing in mind what’s going on geopolitically, what’s going on in Ukraine, what’s going on in Iran, the idea for us to be perceived as navel gazing or being indulgent, I think, wouldn’t be rewarded by the electorate.
“I think the British public did vote for a Labour government by Keir Starmer. He has got a mandate… I’m somebody who believes in strong leadership, leadership that’s defined by values and what’s right for the country. And I think the fact that Keir is today in the Middle East supporting our allies, but also seeing if we can have a sustainable ceasefire, speaks volumes for the sort of the leader he is.”
Dr Lizzie Simon, from the University of Exeter, said: “Just before the 2025 local elections, the Greens, Lib Dems and Reform had a combined vote share of 51% in Politico’s Poll of Polls. Their combined share is now sitting at 55%. In the same period, support for the big two has slipped from 42% to 34%.
“These figures come from national vote intention polls, and so don’t necessarily provide an accurate representation of how the public will vote at local elections, which are a slightly different beast – largely because people more often use their vote at local contests to ‘protest’ or express their dissatisfaction with the sitting government than they will at national contests. This will be worrying news for the Labour Party.”
