Sadiq Khan’s Historic Win in London
The Labour Party’s mayoral candidate defeated Zac Goldsmith, a Conservative, to become the first Muslim mayor of a major European city.

Updated on May 6 at 7:50 p.m. ET
Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants to the U.K., won a historic victory in the London mayoral race, defeating Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate and wealthy scion of a billionaire banker, to become the first Muslim mayor of a major European city.
Labour's @SadiqKhan is new Mayor of Londonhttps://t.co/xfZJdXU5dy pic.twitter.com/l3DtdC2gxf
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 6, 2016
Khan reclaimed the mayoralty for his Labour Party, succeeding Boris Johnson, the incumbent, who isn’t running.
“My dad would be so proud that the city he chose to call home has chosen one of his children to be Mayor,” Khan said after he was officially named the winner of the race.
But the congratulatory messages had begun long before the official results were declared, coming from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, and others.
Congratulations @SadiqKhan. Can't wait to work with you to create a London that is fair for all! #YesWeKhan pic.twitter.com/FqRjfY1xNT
— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) May 6, 2016
(Corbyn, the Labour leader, showing with that hashtag that he Khan’t resist a bad pun.)
The result are a boost for Corbyn, the Labour leader who has steered the party to the left. His opponents within the party had hoped that a poor performance by Labour in the local elections would force Corbyn’s resignation—but despite losing ground in Scotland and Wales, Labour did better than expected in council races in England.
“We have done actually far better than any of the media were predicting we were going to do,” Corbyn told reporters.
In Scotland and Wales, it was another matter.
The new political map of Waleshttps://t.co/UCpEwnSQzD pic.twitter.com/ptRznfOXyB
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 6, 2016
The new political map of Scotland.
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) May 6, 2016
SNP fail to win majority & will "work with other parties"https://t.co/cihzmEFZrt pic.twitter.com/yVdpHGUpAl