Sadiq Khan has been made a knight in the New Year Honours list after securing a record third term as mayor of London.
Sir Sadiq, the son of a bus driver in the capital, said he was “truly humbled” to receive the honour.
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.
Born in Tooting, Sir Sadiq worked as a human rights lawyer before entering Parliament as MP for his home town in 2005, serving as a junior minister under Gordon Brown and then as shadow justice secretary under Ed Miliband.
In 2016, he defeated Conservative Zac Goldsmith to succeed Boris Johnson as mayor of London, becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major western city and going on to win two further terms.
His tenure has at times proved controversial and a petition started by a Conservative councillor opposing his knighthood has had more than 200,000 signatures since December 5.
Sir Sadiq has taken a firm stance on making London a greener and less polluted place to live, and his ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion has split opinion.
He has also pledged to clean up the Thames, planning to make it swimmable within 10 years.
Sir Sadiq has faced scrutiny over his record on law and order, having regularly clashed with the Conservative government, criticising ministers over police funding and for failing to promptly ban zombie knives.
But he was accused of not taking knife crime “seriously” earlier this year by then cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch.
Sir Sadiq has worked on improving London’s transport as mayor, introducing names and colours for London Overground railway lines in November.
After Mr Trump claimed victory over Kamala Harris earlier this year, Sir Sadiq said “many Londoners will be anxious” and “fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights”.
The spat dates back to at least 2015 when Sir Sadiq condemned the then presidential hopeful’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US.
In 2018, Sir Sadiq’s office gave permission for an inflatable depicting Mr Trump as a baby to fly in Parliament Square as the US president visited the UK.
Moments before he stepped off the plane, the president tweeted that Sir Sadiq had “done a terrible job as Mayor of London” and was “a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me”.
Sir Sadiq responded: “I’m not 12 years old in a playground, I’m just surprised Donald Trump thinks he is.”
In May, Sir Sadiq became the first person to win a third term as London mayor, with a majority of 275,000 over Conservative rival Susan Hall.
