London's mayor Sadiq Khan has been appointed to the House of Lords after being nominated by departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Mr Khan, 55, was one of 26 new appointments confirmed by the government, just days before Mr Starmer is due to hand over power to the man assuming the Labour Party leadership, Andy Burnham.
The appointment means Mr Khan and his fellow new peers -- who come from across the political spectrum with a range of different professional backgrounds -- can participate in the lawmaking process.
The upper chamber typically revises and scrutinises laws put forward by the elected House of Commons, though it has on occasion been the arena for protracted battles over the principles of legislation. Mr Khan will continue to serve as the elected mayor of London.
His appointment to the House of Lords would allow Mr Starmer's successor to give Mr Khan a ministerial portfolio when he names his new government next week, though no such role has been confirmed.
A spokesman for Mr Khan said the mayor's life story was a success story. “London gave Sadiq the opportunities to go from a council estate to being Mayor of London, and his focus will continue to be ensuring that all Londoners get the same shot at reaching their full potential that London gave him and his family," the spokesman said.
“Serving as mayor of the greatest city in the world continues to be the privilege of Sadiq's life.
“He is excited about what more can be delivered in the years ahead and he will devote his time and energy to standing up for our city and building a fairer, safer and greener London for everyone.”
Mr Khan was born the son of a bus driver and a seamstress. He worked a prominent human rights lawyer before entering politics when he was elected MP for Tooting and attended cabinet as Minister of State for Transport in the last year of the Labour government that lost the 2010 election.
Mr Khan became the the first Muslim leader of a western capital when he was first elected in 2016.
But he has faced racist and Islamophobic online abuse, and a report in 2025 found that this had doubled over the previous year.
He won an unprecedented third term as London Mayor in 2024 beating his Conservative Party’s Susan Hall by more than 275,000 votes to take 43.8 per cent of the vote.
During his time in office, Mr Khan has also been involved in a war of words with Donald Trump.
This stems back more than a decade to the Republican's first presidential campaign, when the Mayor criticised his proposed ban on Muslims travelling to the US.
Last year, in a speech to the UN, Mr Trump claimed that migrants wanted to impose Sharia in London under its “terrible mayor”.
The Mayor responded by saying: “President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he's Islamophobic”.
