Sadiq Khan knighthood prompts Tory criticism

Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated Sir Sadiq, saying that he was proud that the UK was “a place where you can go from being the son of a bus driver”, like the mayor, to being a knight of the realm.

He also noted that he had introduced policies to make London’s air cleaner, built more council homes, and delivered free school meals.

However, Philp cited levels of knife crime in London and missed housing targets as among the mayor’s failures.

He said: “Under Sadiq Khan, Londoners have faced a 61% increase in knife crime, a housing crisis and a 70% increase in council tax – they will rightly be furious his track record of failure is being rewarded.

“By rewarding the failing Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer has shown once again that for Labour it is Party first, country second.”

A petition against his award had been organised by Conservative councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman.

Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer before entering Parliament as MP for Tooting for Labour in 2005. He became mayor of London in 2016, replacing Boris Johnson, and has since won two further terms.