Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has made
some powerful opponents.
He doesn’t know me, never met me, he doesn’t
know what I’m all about.
I think they’re very rude statements and
frankly tell him I will remember those statements.
My message to Donald Trump and his team is
that your views of Islam are ignorant.
He’s the first Muslim mayor of a major Western
capital - and proud of it.
This is how Sadiq Khan went from the son of
Pakistani immigrants, to a lawyer, law-maker
and now the Mayor of London.
Khan’s parents emigrated from Pakistan - his
father was a bus-driver, his mother a stay-at-home
seamstress.
The 10-strong Khan family squeezed into a
three-bedroom flat in South London.
He wanted to be a dentist but TV in the 1980s
convinced him otherwise.
"Objection!"
L.A. Law, with its swagger and ill fitting
suits caught Khan’s eye.
He graduated in 1991 with a degree in law
from North london University and joined a
human rights firm.
Khan worked a number of high profile cases
- often clashing with London’s Metropolitan
Police force.
But he had bigger political ambitions.
“This is what being a new MP is like, squatting
on a bench in the absence of an office, dealing
with letters from constituents”
"Reports are coming in of an explosion in London"
"There were explosions and then it was just smoke everywhere."
"Everyone's asking what's just happened"
Only two months after Khan entered the Commons
as a member of Parliament London was attacked
by Islamist extremists.
"That day will stay with me for the rest of
my life”
He spoke out against the attacks both as a
London MP and as a muslim.
He has been very clear about his opposition
to violence, opposition to terrorism and has
set out to make the case for a more open and
peaceful Islam.
That’s Thomas Penny, one of Bloomberg’s
Westminster correspondents.
Here is a man who is a muslim and is standing
up and being open and straightforward and
being clear that the problem here is not Islam
but Islamic extremism.
In 2015, a decade after that attack, Khan
ran for Mayor of London and his faith was
back in the headlines
His opponent, Zac Goldsmith trying to link
Khan to radical Islam.
“The debate got again personal and nasty”
The Goldsmith camp has called Khan extreme
and accused him of associating with quote
“those who seek to do our police and capital
harm”
Even the fomer Prime Minister, David Cameron,
repeated the allegations.
"He shared a platform with Sajil Shahid, the
man who trained the ringleader of the 7/7
attacks."
But the smears didn’t stick.
Zac Goldsmith ran a very negative campaign
that was based on what people knew was a lie.
This election was not without controversy.
And I am so proud that today London has chosen
hope over fear and unity over division
After taking the mayor's office with a comfortable
majority - Khan has brought a business like
efficiency to the role, scrapping expensive
vanity projects like the Garden Bridge and
the new Routemaster buses - which cost £350,000
each.
The former lawyer, who used to fight the police
in court, is now praised for his close relationship
with them.
I was talking to a very senior police officer
in the Metropolitan Police who said there
was a sea change after he went into City Hall...and
the police were saying how much they welcomed
this because they knew where they stood and
he was more straightforward to work with,
he works like a lawyer, he works like a government
minister.
Khan’s kept his faith at the fore - He is
an outspoken voice for moderate muslims across
the world.
"Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and
complete shutdown on Muslims entering the
United States."
Now by giving the impression that Islam and
the West are incompatible you’re playing
into the hands of the extremists.
The ongoing spat between Khan and U.S. President
Donald Trump escalated when Trump went after
Khan, misquoting him on Twitter just hours
after the terrorist attack on June 3, 2017
Khan is now one of the most prominent Labour
politicians in the U.K.
In fact in a recent poll of Londoners found
him was more trusted to keep the country safe
from terrorism than the Prime Minister or
Labour leader.
His story of going from the son of an immigrant
bus driver to the mayor of one of the world's
greatest cities, plays well with Londoners.
But can he appeal to the rest of the nation?
Has Khan got his eye on the top job?
And is the U.K. ready for a Muslim Prime Minister?
