Sadiq Khan has declined to dismiss suggestions that he wants to remain mayor until 2040 – but says the abuse he and his family have suffered would have made him think twice about taking the job in the first place.
He revealed his daughters had been targeted with abuse from strangers via direct messages on their private social media accounts.
Speaking on the How To Fail podcast, Mr Khan said his failure to anticipate the negative impact of the job on his family was one of his biggest regrets.
He requires “very intrusive” police protection even while on family engagements due to the “animus and hatred” he suffers, much of it a reaction to his Muslim faith or political stance.
He told podcast host Elizabeth Day: “Hand on heart, had I known when I first began this journey what it involved for my family, I can’t unequivocally say I would have done this.”
The paperback version of Mr Khan’s book Breathe, a part-memoir that tells of his campaign to clean up London’s air by introducing measures such as the Ulez, is due to be published on Thursday. It is thought to contain a new chapter detailing his re-election for an historic third term.
Asked if it were true that he wanted to serve six terms as mayor, which would keep him at City Hall until 2040, Mr Khan replied: “I want to carry on as long as Londoners want to lend me their vote and give me their trust, being the best mayor I can be.”
There has been speculation about how long Mr Khan wants to remain mayor, and he refused to be drawn on going beyond a third term soon after his re-election in May. Some insiders believe Mr Khan may be joking about seeking six terms.
The paperback version of his book has a new sub-title, Seven Ways to Win a Greener World. In the podcast, Mr Khan says his other failures were not becoming an environmentalist until his 40s and not being selected as a teenager to play for Surrey cricket club.
.jpg)
He said that being mayor was in a “different stratosphere” to being an MP. “It’s 24/7, seven days a week, you are never off [duty],” he said.
He said that for the first seven years of being mayor he didn’t speak about the abuse he received, for fear of putting off others from entering politics.
“The reason I’ve decided to talk about it was because somebody said to me: ‘You are in danger of gaslighting the public into thinking things are great, hunky dory, when they’re not.’
“A lot of the talented people you would want to be your MP, your mayor or your Prime Minister will think: it’s not worth it.
“That is why we have got to have the conversation. Are we saying that’s acceptable now for people, who haven’t put their head above the parapet, to get hate [mail] because of who their dad is?”
He visits his elderly mother daily. Mr Khan said: “I go to see her every day, on the way home from work or weekends. It’s important - you only have one mum.
“She couldn’t give a monkey’s that I’m the mayor. She tells me off for not putting out the bins and why I don’t spend more time there.”
He recalled his failed cricket trial, when he had to borrow a bat and pads, in contrast to “public schoolboys who had the right kit”.
He said: “It had a profound impact on me. It changed the way I feel about things.
“I was so depressed and devastated I didn’t play cricket that year again. I didn’t pick up a bat that year or indeed the next year or indeed the year after. I thought I was good enough but they didn’t think I was good enough. So I fell out of love with cricket.”
He added: “You have got to look the part in cricket. It matters even more now. The England squad is full of, I’m afraid, public school cricketers because they have got all the kit, they have got the facilities, they have got better and better and better. Cricket is still quite an elitist sport.”
