It is a third term for Sadiq Khan as London’s record-breaking mayor begins a fresh tenure at City Hall - but to the background of tragedy.
Over the weekend, another Londoner’s life was lost, this time in a Bethnal Green stabbing, while two others were hospitalised following knife attacks in Tottenham and Battersea.
So, as Khan begins his ninth year in charge of the capital, what are his priorities - and how can he match delivery with rhetoric?
The Labour incumbent, who first won power in 2016, took his third term with about 44 per cent of the vote - or just over a million of ballots cast, which was nearly 276,000 more than his Conservative challenger, Susan Hall.
Hall now joins the list of Tory also-rans seen off by Khan and the Labour party election machine, that’s Zac Goldsmith in 2016 and Shaun Bailey in 2021.
Khan made his declaration of office speech at the Tate Modern and gave his first press interview to the Evening Standard’s City Hall editor Ross Lydall.
Ross joins Mark Blunden to discuss Khan’s mayoral roadmap for his third term, how much we know about his plans to battle London’s knife crime epidemic, electoral reform - and what’s next for Susan Hall after losing the capital’s vote.
Plus, surprise promotion to the London Assembly for Green Party mayoral candidate Zoë Garbett after former co-leader Siân Berry resigns from her role to pursue political ambitions in Brighton - just three days after winning re-election in the capital.
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