{"id":870837,"date":"2026-04-04T05:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/870837\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T05:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:00:17","slug":"lord-khan-speculation-triggers-backlash-from-london-assembly-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/870837\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lord Khan\u2019 speculation triggers backlash from London Assembly members"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elevating Sir Sadiq Khan to the House of Lords would be to the detriment of Londoners, members of the London Assembly have argued.<\/p>\n

Last week it was reported that the Mayor of London was set to be offered a peerage by the Prime Minister after the local elections in May.<\/p>\n

Labour Party sources suggested it would help bring one of Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s most high-profile critics into the fold if Labour lose swathes of council seats in London and beyond.<\/p>\n

But allies of Sir Sadiq, a former Cabinet minister, rejected the notion that any conversations had taken place.<\/p>\n

London Assembly Members have welcomed this dismissal in recent days, suggesting that the Mayor needed to focus on serving the Londoners who voted him in.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadiq Khan is already a distracted Mayor, spending more time grand standing than focusing on fixing the issues facing London,\u201d Conservative Assembly Member Thomas Turrell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).<\/p>\n

\u201cHousebuilding has collapsed under his Mayoralty, the police are facing a recruitment crisis and transport upgrades like the new DLR and Piccadilly trains are now late and millions over budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to focus on the job he already has. A peerage would be another distraction and it is Londoners who would lose out even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are currently two sitting peers on the London Assembly \u2013 Lord Bailey, Sir Sadiq\u2019s Mayoral opponent in 2021, and Lord Duvall, the current chair. There is no rule against holding both positions.<\/p>\n

However, critics from other parties on the Assembly said that if a move were to happen, Sir Sadiq should do the honourable thing and stand down from his position in City Hall.<\/p>\n

Hina Bokhari, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the London Assembly, said: \u201cThis is purely a reaction to the poor results in the polls for Labour. But if the Mayor was to be parachuted into Government on a peerage, surely he can\u2019t continue in his current position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat title will he use \u2013 Sir, Lord, Mayor? It all a bit ridiculous!\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood that officials think bringing in powerful Labour figures like Sir Sadiq could help shore up the Prime Minister\u2019s position after the local election results on May 7.<\/p>\n

The Mayor of London<\/a> did not follow Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar earlier this year in calling for Sir Keir to stand down, but has remained an ardent critic of the government\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people who voted Labour in July 2024 are now angry and frustrated,\u201d he said after Labour lost February\u2019s Gorton and Denton by-election.<\/p>\n

Accusing the Prime Minister of taking taking \u201cprogressive voters for granted\u201d, Sir Sadiq criticised his approach to Brexit, immigration and Gaza.<\/p>\n

Reform UK\u2019s Alex Wilson suggested that any peerage offer would show how \u201cdesperate [Starmer] is and how low he has sunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s an entirely cynical act motivated purely by his desire to silence his biggest opponents from within the Labour Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, his decision to withdraw the whip from Karl Turner serves as proof of his intent to crush growing dissent within his ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadiq Khan has been an utter disaster for our city, having overseen economic destruction, pitiful housing delivery and rising violence. For the Prime Minister to abuse the honours system and reward that record is shameful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election modelling from data firm Bombe has indicated that Labour could lose control of 19 of the 21 councils it currently controls in London.<\/p>\n

Another new wave of peerages is expected to be announced by Downing Street in the coming months.<\/p>\n

A source close to Sir Sadiq told the LDRS: \u201cAs far as we\u2019re aware, no list yet exists, and he\u2019s not on any list.\u201d<\/p>\n

A government spokesperson said: \u201cThis is speculation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LDRS contacted several Labour members on the London Assembly, none of whom returned a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce9
\n
\n \"\u2018Lord<\/p>\n

Get the latest breaking news, roadworks, crime updates and local events straight to your inbox \u2013 totally free, every day.<\/p>\n

SIGN UP below<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elevating Sir Sadiq Khan to the House of Lords would be to the detriment of Londoners, members of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,7833,82516,257,7834,12,14252,16,15],"class_list":["post-870837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-harrow-online","tag-harrow-online-news","tag-london","tag-london-news","tag-news","tag-sadiq-khan","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116344679801373592","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}