Emily Thornberry and Sadiq Khan (Image: GETTY)
has been made a knight in the New Year Honours list after winning a record third term as London mayor.
The Labour politician said he was “truly humbled” to receive the honour.
Sir Sadiq was named alongside senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry, who has been made a dame.
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.
“It’s the honour of my life to serve the city I love and I will continue to build the fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London that all of the capital’s communities deserve.”
:
Sir Sadiq succeeded in City Hall in 2017, becoming the first Muslim mayor of a major western city and going on to win two further terms including against Conservative Susan Hall in May.
But his tenure has proved controversial at times and a petition launched by a Tory councillor against his knighthood has racked up more than 200,000 signatures.
Sir Sadiq, who became the MP for Tooting in 2005 and served as a junior minister under Gordon Brown and then as shadow justice secretary under Ed Miliband, has come under intense scrutiny for his record on law and order amid spiralling crime in the capital.
He also faced a major backlash for expanding London’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) as part of his green drive.
Meanwhile, the former human rights lawyer has been embroiled in an ongoing feud with US president-elect who is set to return to the White House next month.
Don’t miss… [REPORT] [REVEALED]
Dame Emily, the MP for Islington, said she was “both honoured and surprised” by her appointment.
It comes after the veteran MP, who now chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, was excluded from Sir ‘s Cabinet after Labour’s election win in July.
She said: “I think of my grandmothers, neither of whom were even allowed to work as married women, and think how utterly delighted they’d be to see this.
“My husband was knighted a few years ago and I never felt comfortable sharing his title, calling myself ‘Lady Nugee’, but Dame Emily is a name I’d be proud to go by.”
Andy Street, the ex-West Midlands mayor, and Nick Gibb, the former long-serving schools minister, also received knighthoods.
Sir Andy, who was elected as the West Midlands’ first mayor in 2017, said he had only been “the front man” and the honour was “an accolade for the people in the West Midlands who made a success of the combined authority and the mayoralty”.
He said: “Behind it lies a huge endeavour to set this up from scratch and make it the success that it is.
“It was a huge honour to be able to do that on behalf of citizens across the West Midlands.”
Several former MPs also received honours in the annual list.
Ranil Jayawardena, who served as environment secretary under Liz Truss’s brief premiership, and ex-Conservative deputy chief whip Marcus Jones have both been made knights.
Former Labour MP Kate Hollern, who lost her Blackburn seat to Independent candidate Adnan Hussain in July, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Lord Mike Katz, the national chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement who was recently ennobled by Sir Keir, has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Patricia Hewitt, who was health secretary under Sir Tony Blair, has been handed a damehood.