Sadiq Khan has said his children think he has “sold out” by accepting a knighthood.
The Mayor of London was knighted in Sir Keir Starmer’s first New Year Honours List, described by critics as “rewarding failure” following soaring crime rates in the capital.
Sir Sadiq said he was “truly humbled” to receive the honour, but revealed the news had been met with a mixed reception from members of his family.
He told the Comfort Eating podcast: “My mum is chuffed to bits [but] my kids think it’s a joke.
“They think I’ve sold out, I’m part of the establishment, all that sort of stuff. My nephews and nieces think I’m elite.”
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He added: “I’m not going to pretend it’s not lovely, it’s a huge honour.”
The Labour politician succeeded Boris Johnson as mayor in 2016. Since then, knife crime in the capital has increased by 38 per cent.
An online petition against Sir Sadiq receiving a knighthood, which followed reports that it was in the pipeline, attracted more than 200,000 signatures in less than a month.
‘Unthinkable’
Sir Sadiq, 54, also told the podcast: “My parents, when they came to this country 60 years ago, the idea that one of their boys would be the mayor, let alone would have ‘Sir’ before their name, would have been unthinkable.”
However, families of knife crime victims described the honour as “an insult”, with campaigners saying the mayor had “completely ignored” their pleas.
Suzanne Hedges, whose 27-year-old son Ricky Hayden was stabbed to death by a teenager in 2016, said: “It’s insulting, degrading and disrespectful to all the families that have lost someone to knife crime who battle day after day to try to keep our streets safe.”
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Hayden was murdered as he tried to stop a moped from being stolen outside his home in east London.
Courtney Barrett, founder of community group Binning Knives Saves Lives, said he was “aghast” when he heard that Sir Sadiq had been knighted.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, also said Londoners would be “furious” about the honour.
He added: “By rewarding the failing Sadiq Khan, Keir Starmer has shown once again that for Labour it is party first, country second.”
Another prominent Labour figure to receive a knighthood was Emily Thornberry, Sir Keir’s former shadow attorney general.
Andy Street, the former Tory mayor of the West Midlands, and Sir Nick Gibb, the ex-education minister, were also given honours.
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