Sadiq Khan: Now Jeremy Corbyn needs to walk the walk and get Labour back into power

Winning feeling; Sadiq Khan at Labour conference
Jeremy Selwyn
Pippa Crerar27 September 2016
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Sadiq Khan today said it was time for Jeremy Corbyn to “walk the walk” as the Mayor set out his blueprint for Labour’s return to power.

Mr Khan told activists the party should follow his example in London and turn its attention to winning elections again.

He urged them to fight for a “Labour prime minister in Downing Street” but his failure to single out Mr Corbyn by name revealed hints of his own ambitions for No 10.

Aides deny Mr Khan is planning any direct challenge to Mr Corbyn and claim his team is working on an eight-year masterplan for London.

But many moderate MPs are looking to City Hall and their party’s most senior elected politician as an alternative power base around which to rally.

Mr Khan made no attempt to dispel the rumours in his speech to his party’s annual conference in Liverpool, suggesting Labour was not currently providing an effective opposition to the Tories. He said it was time for Mr Corbyn not just to “talk the talk, but walk the walk” and that he had a “duty and responsibility” to try to win elections.

Powerful message: Sadiq Khan addresses the Labour conference in Liverpool
Getty Images

Relations between the two men are strained — last week, the Standard revealed they had not spoken since before the EU referendum in June.

“Labour is not in power in the place that we can have the biggest impact on our country,” Mr Khan told activists.

“It’s in government that Labour can make the biggest changes to people’s lives. And every day now we see what happens when Labour is not in power. The people who need us the most are those who suffer the most when Labour is not in power.”

However, the former Tooting MP also told his party that with the leadership “decided” it was time to put the bruising contest, in which he backed Mr Corbyn’s rival Owen Smith, behind it.

“Now it’s time for us all to work together towards the greatest prize. Getting Labour back into power,” he said. “It’s only when Labour is in power that we get the chance to fix the problems that we care most about. It’s only with Labour in power that we can make a real start — and a real difference.

“Labour out of power will never, ever be good enough.”

Mr Khan said the party should begin by winning mayoral elections across the country next year. “With Labour in power in cities and regions we can show that our party can be trusted to govern again,” he said.

The Mayor cited his record in London — more affordable homes, tackling air pollution and supporting business — as proof he had made more difference in four months in power than six years in opposition.

But he told activists there would not be “a revolution overnight” because “real and meaningful change” takes years. And he courted their support by praising them for going “above and beyond” for getting Labour back into power in London and other cities.

Mr Khan suggested that under the Conservatives the country would continue to be divided — between rich and poor as well as between different faiths and ethnicities. And he spoke directly to EU citizens in London to say “you’re welcome here” and that Theresa May should be “ashamed” at using them as a “bargaining chip” in her Brexit talks.

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