Sadiq Khan was the fifth youngster out of seven brothers and one sister. (File)

London:

Sadiq Khan, who was Saturday re-elected for a report third time period as London mayor, rose from humble roots to spar with world leaders and convey consequential change to the British capital.

The 53-year-old Labour celebration politician — a former human rights lawyer introduced up on a London public housing complicated — comfortably defeated Conservative rival Susan Corridor for a 3rd stint at Metropolis Corridor.

He now overtakes predecessor Boris Johnson because the longest-serving holder of the publish, which notably has powers over the emergency providers, transport and planning within the metropolis of almost 9 million.

Victory continues a exceptional journey for the Pakistani immigrant bus driver’s son, who turned the primary Muslim mayor of a Western capital when initially elected in 2016.

As mayor, he has made a reputation for himself as a vocal critic of Brexit and successive Conservative prime ministers, together with Johnson, in addition to for a feud with former US president Donald Trump.

The pair turned embroiled in a rare confrontation after Khan criticised Trump’s journey ban on folks from sure Muslim nations.

Trump then accused Khan of doing a “very unhealthy job on terrorism” and known as him a “stone chilly loser” and a “nationwide shame”.

The mayor in flip allowed an notorious blimp of Trump dressed as a child in a nappy to fly above protests in Parliament Sq. throughout his 2018 go to to Britain.

“He as soon as known as me a stone chilly loser. Solely one among us is a loser, and it is not me,” Khan advised AFP throughout his 2021 marketing campaign.

Knife crime

However Khan’s personal tenure has not been with out its controversies, notably over final 12 months’s growth of an Extremely-Low Emission Zone into the most important pollution-charging scheme on the earth.

The day by day toll on the most-polluting automobiles prompted a fierce backlash in outer boroughs of Better London, with anger on the additional monetary burden throughout a cost-of-living disaster.

Khan has additionally been criticised for failing to familiarize yourself with excessive ranges of knife crime and since final 12 months, his dealing with of huge weekly pro-Palestinian protests.

Born in London in 1970 to folks who had lately arrived from Pakistan, Khan was the fifth youngster out of seven brothers and one sister.

He grew up in public housing in Tooting, an ethnically combined residential space in south London, and slept in a bunk-bed till he was 24.

His modest background performs nicely in a metropolis that’s pleased with its variety and loves a self-made success story.

Khan nonetheless recurrently recollects how his father drove one among London’s well-known crimson buses, and his mom was a seamstress.

He’s a helpful boxer, having learnt the game to defend himself within the streets towards those that hurled racist abuse at him, and two of his brothers are boxing coaches.

He initially wished to grow to be a dentist, however a trainer noticed his present for verbal sparring and directed him in direction of legislation.

He gained a legislation diploma from the College of North London and began out as a trainee lawyer in 1994 on the Christian Fisher authorized agency, the place he was finally made a accomplice.

He specialised in human rights, and spent three years chairing the civil liberties marketing campaign group Liberty.

He represented Louis Farrakhan, chief of the Nation of Islam motion, and Babar Ahmad, a mosque acquaintance who was jailed in america after admitting offering help to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Increased ambitions?

Khan joined Labour aged 15 when Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher was in her pomp.

He turned a neighborhood councillor for Tooting within the Conservative-dominated Wandsworth native borough in 1994, and its member of parliament in 2005.

He nonetheless lives within the space together with his lawyer spouse Saadiya and their two teenage daughters.

Labour prime minister Gordon Brown made him communities minister in 2008 and he later served as transport minister, turning into the primary Muslim minister to attend Cupboard conferences.

In parliament, he voted for homosexual marriage — which earned him dying threats.

As mayor, he vowed to concentrate on offering inexpensive houses for Londoners and freezing transport fares, however — like many in energy all over the world — noticed his agenda engulfed by the pandemic.

He’s London’s third mayor after Labour’s Ken Livingstone (2000-2008) and Johnson (2008-2016), with widespread hypothesis he might finally attempt to comply with in his predecessor and grow to be prime minister.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)