Social Media Rushes To Sadiq Khan’s Defence As Critics Slam His Knighthood
Sadiq Khan’s supporters have rushed to his aid after his critics slammed the decision to grant him a knighthood in the New Year Honours List for 2025.
The first Muslim mayor of London – who won a historic third term in his post with a huge majority earlier this year – said he was “truly humbled” by the decision yesterday.
He said: “I couldn’t have dreamed when growing up on a council estate in south London that I would one day be mayor of London.
“It’s the honour of my life to serve the city I love and I will continue to build the fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London that all of the capital’s communities deserve.”
Khan was elected as an MP in 2005 and served in Gordon Brown’s government as a junior minister and then as the shadow justice secretary under Ed Miliband.
He succeeded Boris Johnson as London mayor in 2016 and defeated the Tories’ Zac Goldsmith.
He has since introduced controversial measures such as the Ultra low emission zone (Ulez) to reduce pollution in the capital, and promised to clean up the Thames.
He also authorised a giant blip showing Donald Trump as a baby to fly over Parliament during the then-president’s trip to the UK in 2018.
The Conservatives were quick to lash out at his knighthood, with the shadow home secretary Chris Philp calling it a “reward for failure”.
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 Tory councillor also started a petition opposing Khan’s knighthood on December 5. It now has more than 200,000 signatures.
Reform MP Lee Anderson even wrote in the Express: “Most Brits will struggle to name one positive thing Sadiq Khan has done for our capital city.
“If the man had any shame he would hand the award back and apologise for ruining our capital city.”
However, luckily for Sir Sadiq, he had plenty of support online – even if many users on Bluesky were mainly happy about how his title would now “eternally piss off the right-wing”.
