“My Dad was a bus driver”. The 2016 mayoral elections in London

Abstract

In May 2016, the Labour Party’s candidate, Sadiq Khan, became the third mayor of London after a bitter competition against Zac Goldsmith, his opponent from the Conservative Party. During his campaign, Khan promised a more consensual approach to politics in the capital city thus distinguishing himself from his predecessors, Ken Livingstone, mayor from 2000 until 2008 and Boris Johnson who held the post from 2008 until 2016. This article briefly looks back at the first mandates of “Ken” and then “Boris” to provide elements of comparison with the 2016 London elections. Four times in a row the competition was reduced to a duel between the candidates from the two main parties. The 2016 election which opposed “Sadiq” and “Zac” stands out as having rapidly become a real fist-fight that undoubtedly Londoners will be only too happy to consign to the dustbin of the capital’s municipal history.

Keywords

• London mayoral election
• Greater London Authority
• Congestion Charge