Ed Miliband today appointed one of his rising stars as shadow minister for London — putting the capital at the heart of Labour’s election fightback.
Tooting MP Sadiq Khan will spearhead a two-year campaign to win the borough elections in 2014 and then seize seats from Conservative and Lib-Dem MPs in May 2015.
In a sign of the capital’s importance to Labour’s wider recovery, Mr Khan will get a deputy — Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas, who is one of Labour’s most tenacious campaigners.
“There are no no-go zones for Labour in London,” Mr Khan told the Evening Standard in his first interview in the role. “My job is not just to keep hold of Labour seats in the coming elections, but to go out and gain seats from the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.”
He acknowledged that the Conservatives got their message across better than Labour in last year’s mayoral election won by Boris Johnson. He would not be drawn on why Ken Livingstone failed to win. Police cuts and fare rises will dominate early campaigning, he indicated.
Mr Khan paid tribute to former Olympics Minister Dame Tessa Jowell who stood down in the London role last year. “It’s a privilege to have been asked to follow her,” he said.
