Sadiq Khan proclaimed that history had been made as Labour claimed Wandsworth Council for the first time since 1978.
The council had been seen as a likely Labour gain going into election night and they pulled off the turnaround, from a seven-seat deficit in 2018 to a seven-seat majority.
Khan was overjoyed in his praise for Labour’s success in Wandsworth and believed that it validated the state of the party.
He said to Sky News: “This council first went Tory in 1978 when Margaret Thatcher was leader of the opposition.
“John Major, William Hague, Ian Duncan-Smith, Michael Howard, David Cameron, Theresa May, all that time this was a Conservative council. This is history being made.
“A year after a 1997 landslide victory, the Tories kept this seat, a year after a 2001 landslide victory, the Tories kept this seat, but a combination of Keir Starmer as our leader, great work from Simon [Hogg], three fantastic Labour MPs, and a Labour run City Hall has delivered it.
“Now I’ve got a counsellor I can work with, it’s great to have a coalition of the willing.”
Khan added: “Wandsworth will join a coalition across London that started four years ago, when we got the best results, literally since 1974.
“And low and behold, four years later, we’ve managed to, we think, keep up what we won four years ago and make fantastic gains in Wandsworth and Westminster.”
Khan also felt that Boris Johnson had played a big role in the councils that Labour have managed to take off the Conservatives.
He said: “A combination of Boris Johnson as the Conservative Prime Minister and Kier Starmer as our leader has brought home the seats to labour and this is vindication for the hard work and brilliant activism, brilliant leadership.
“Also on the doorstep, we also had not just a response to challenges from voters, but also, we’ve been hearing about the consumer crisis.
“We’re hearing about concerns that residents have about the cuts from the government, and also about Boris Johnson.
“Let me be frank, it is in the Labour Party’s interest for Boris Johnson to stay in power, but it is in the national interest for him to go.
“I’m somebody who’s a patriot, who loves my country, it’s time for him to go as a patriot and as an Englishmen and as a Brit, but as a labour person I want him to stay because it’s a winner for us.”
Featured image: “The London Conference 2018” by centreforlondon is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
