Sadiq Khan, London’s Blairite mayor, photo Policy Exchange (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Sadiq Khan won the London Mayor election in May 2016 on the back of the wave of support for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity campaign.
Many trade unionists in London voted for Khan to get rid of hated Tory mayor Boris Johnson, who notoriously refused to even meet with RMT representatives.
While understanding this desire, the Socialist Party warned (in contrast to the uncritical #JezweKhan campaign of Momentum) that a mayor who pledges to be “the most business-friendly” yet, and who wants more millionaires and billionaires, cannot also represent the interests of ordinary Londoners.
Instead of attacking workers and claiming the recent strikes were “completely unnecessary”, Khan should be attacking the tube bosses who have created this nightmare, and should be pledging to reverse the cuts and ticket office closures.