Sadiq Khan – Labour’s shadow minister for London twitter.com/MSmithsonPB/st…

— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) March 22, 2013

Henry G Manson on Labour’s possible 2016 London Mayoral candidate

The Labour Party has wisely learned from the previous London selection and is not racing to select a Labour mayoral candidate soon after the defeat. However the next two years will be a great chance for aspiring candidates to jockey for position and give themselves the best chance of success.

Labour is currently 8/11 favourite to provide the next mayor, but it’s not one that appeals right now, particularly since Boris Johnson’s future has yet to be determined.

However the 33/1 on Shadow Justice Minister Sadiq Khan to be the next Mayor is cracking value.

At the moment David Lammy is regarded as the front-runner. He chaired Ken Livingstone’s campaign rather than run himself and his response to the London rights caught the right note at the time. However I believe him to be a false favourite. Lammy does not have a strong bedrock of support or natural constituency within the Labor party or movement. His political trajectory has underwhelmed at times. No longer a shadow minister he cuts a much different figure to the character being talked of as Britain’s first Black Prime Minister when he was elected as MP for Tottenham 13 years ago.

Despite Sadiq Khan being elected to Parliament 5 years later than Lammy, he has more accomplishments to his name and is currently is in the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Justice Secretary. He has a long background in local government behind him serving on Wandsworth Council for 12 years. The son of an immigrant bus driver has a decent legal career behind him and he looks and sounds like a London success story. He’s smart, shrewd and likeable.

What puts Sadiq Khan in such a great place for this contest is that Ed Miliband also made him Shadow Minister for London two months ago. This remit will enable him to meet, speak, campaign, engage with the whole London electoral college for this selection ahead of elections in 2014 and the general election a year later. The unions played a large role in these selections and would likely to lean more towards Khan more than Lammy.

Sadiq Khan may well decide to take a senior governmental job should Labour win power in 2015. I’ve a sneaking suspicion that his heart is in London and that he will give it very heavy consideration when the time comes. At 33/1 with Ladbrokes to be the next mayor he is a very good value bet and one that should be taken.

Henry G Manson