Starmer expected to hand Khan peerage

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to offer Sir Sadiq Khan a peerage after the local elections in an attempt to bring one of his most prominent critics on side.

Sir Sadiq, who was handed a knighthood last year, has been a vocal critic of Sir Keir’s leadership, recently accusing him of taking “liberal, progressive voters” for granted in a shift to the Right.

He also backed Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, after he called for a change in the Prime Minister’s approach last year.

Promoting Sir Sadiq to the Lords would be seen as an attempt to secure his support after the local elections on May 7, when Sir Keir is facing a moment of maximum danger.

Labour has been forecast to lose as many as 2,000 councillors as disenfranchised voters flock to the Greens and Reform UK, putting the Prime Minister’s political future at risk.

Sources claimed that the peerage would amount to an attempt to mollify one of Sir Keir’s most high-profile critics.

One told the Financial Times that there had been talk of a potential Cabinet role for Sir Sadiq, but a Downing Street official dismissed the claim.

On Friday morning, Josh MacAlister, the minister for children, families and wellbeing, did not deny that Sir Sadiq could be handed a peerage.

Asked whether the reports in the Financial Times were true, he said: “I have no idea.”

However, he said it was “not a bad idea” to offer Sir Sadiq a spot in the Lords, telling Sky News: “What I would say is that as a minister who’s sat in the House of Commons, when you’ve got members of the House of Lords in local government, and now in mayoral positions, it’s incredibly important for the legislation we’re trying to pass, and making sure that the laws that we make are scrutinised by, challenged by and improved by those who are closest to the ground.

“So the principle of it is certainly not a bad idea. We’ve got lots of great mayors across the country.”

Labour’s ‘flawed’ approach

Sir Sadiq, who was a Labour MP before becoming the Mayor of London, has previously been touted as a possible future leader of the party, though he has denied harbouring such ambitions.

Angela Rayner moved to block him from returning to Parliament as she faced claims that she was manoeuvring against her rivals for the top job last year.

Sir Sadiq launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister after Labour lost the Gorton and Denton by-election to the Greens last month.

Writing for The Guardian after the vote, he said: “A political strategy of taking liberal, progressive voters for granted is clearly flawed. The national Labour Party and Government doesn’t just need to reflect on this result, but fundamentally rethink its approach.”

While he has never called for Sir Keir to quit, Sir Sadiq said Mr Burnham raised “legitimate concerns” about his leadership last year, deepening the sense of crisis at the top of the party.

He also led a backlash against the Prime Minister in May 2025 after Sir Keir’s remarks on the UK becoming an “island of strangers” were compared to Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech.

No 10 refused to comment. An ally of Sir Sadiq told the Financial Times that such appointments were a matter for the Government.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]