Sadiq Khan sworn in as mayor of London, first Muslim head of city

World Today

The new Mayor of London has been sworn in and Sadiq Khan is making history as the first Muslim mayor of the European Union’s largest city.

CCTV’s Richard Bestic reports from London.

Sadiq Khan, side-by-side with the Cathedral’s Dean, Andrew Nunn, strides into Southwark Cathedral – a bastion of British Christianity.

Khan won more than 1.3 million votes-hailed by the BBC as “the largest personal mandate of any politician in UK history.”

An apparent rebuke to weeks of electioneering by the U.K.’s ruling Conservative Party that attempted to use Khan’s religion as a weapon against him.

His main rival, Zak Goldsmith – accused by some even in his own party – of attempting to link Khan with Islamic extremism.

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After the count, Khan hailed his electoral landslide as a victory of hope over fear.

“I hope that we will never be offered such a stark choice again,” Kahn said. “Fear does not make us safer, it only makes us weaker and the politics of fear is simply not welcome in our city.”

Khan couldn’t have triumphed on Muslim support alone. To take over City Hall, he won significantly more than 50 percent of the vote in a city, which has a Muslim population of just 13 percent.

Now difficult questions will be asked of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party. Prime Minister David Cameron is already under pressure from Muslims in his own party to explain a faith-based strategy that so badly backfired.