Sadiq Khan, the son of a bus driver, became London’s first Muslim mayor yesterday, seeing off a Conservative challenger who attempted to link him to extremism and securing a much-needed victory for his opposition Labour Party.
Khan’s victory will go some way to soothing the wounds of Labour which suffered losses in Thursday’s other local elections.  Dealt a crushing blow in Scotland, where it came third behind the Scottish National Party and Britain’s ruling Conservatives, Labour did better than expected in England.
The big prize was the London mayor vote, which pitted Khan, 45, who grew up in public housing in inner city London, against Conservative Zac Goldsmith, 41, the son of a billionaire financier.
The Labour lawmaker replaces Conservative Boris Johnson, who has run the city of 8.6mn people for eight years. A top campaigner for Britain to leave the EU, Johnson is seen as a contender to succeed David Cameron as party leader and prime minister.
The Conservatives were keen to keep hold of the post, which does not run the City of London financial district but has influence over government in lobbying for the capital. The mayor is responsible for areas such as policing, transport, housing and the environment.
Khan held his lead in the opinion polls, despite accusations by Goldsmith that he has shared platforms with radical Muslim speakers.
Khan says he has fought extremism all his life and that he regrets sharing a stage with speakers who held “abhorrent” views. The Labour Party accused Goldsmith and the ruling Conservative Party of smearing Khan.
Goldsmith denied the charge, saying he had raised legitimate questions over his opponent’s judgment - but the tactics do seem to have backfired with some voters interviewed by Reuters saying they found the campaign “disgusting and slimy”.
While fighting those charges, Khan, a former human rights lawyer, also distanced himself from the newly-elected Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, after a row over anti-Semitism.