Forum Topic

Khan To Receive A Knighthood? Reward For Failure!🤬

For failing in his key duty: to keep us safe from crime? For allowing knife and gun crimes in London to spiral out of control?  For his failure to enforce law and order across the Capital? For bankrupting TFL twice? For gridlocking London? I could go on ...😖

Sue Hammond ● 20d43 Comments

This is not a new problem. When Eddie Lister moved from Leader in Wandsworth to the Mayor’s office I suggested to him he should start with cutting 10% of the TfL staff. He said he was aiming for 20%. It never happened of course. These bureaucracies are self-sustaining and it takes concerted political will - and sustained effort - to really impose “efficiencies”.

Jonathan Callaway ● 8d

243 'officials' at TfL earn more than £100K pa.Are there that many bus and tube drivers ?!

John Hawkes ● 8d

Suppose the 844 people at County Hall, including Sadiq, who earn over £100k per year, were all sacked and the work shared out among their deputies and deputy deputies. That would save over £8 million, enough to provide winter fuel allowance to between 30 000 and 40 000 pensioners.

Steven Rose ● 9d

'an opportunity to choose a new mayor every few years'Very witty !We do have such of course and Khan won with 43.8% of the votes.And he will continue to do so because of the ethnic mix of the Capital.But some might continue to regret this as do those that regret the result leading to Brexit.Kier Starmer and the Labour Party for example.

John Hawkes ● 9d

If only there was a process you could follow where say...you had an opportunity to choose a new mayor every few years.Would that help do you think?

Michael Brigo ● 9d

Obviously he doesn't do anything about violence and stabbings, because he didn't know what it was like to grow up in a decent area. He has now turned all areas to sh-t. But gets driven around himself. Get him out.

Barbara Stevens ● 9d

'Angela Rayner: I want the whole of England to have mayors'.BBC News.Which will of course mean more mayoral offices, their staff and officials, as is the case with London under Mayor Khan.Listen 👂👂- I think I hear across country the enthusiastic typing of CVs by those that look at the roles filled in the capital and the ginormous salaries that go with them, and the authors saying to themselves - "Gizza a job, I can do that".

John Hawkes ● 9d

I wrote to our MLA Leoni Cooper on the issue of GLA and Mayoral salaries.-------------------------------------------------------Ms CooperBBC News reports -'An east London councillor has been announced as the next deputy mayor of London for environment and energy.Mete Coban, who is Hackney's cabinet member for climate change, environment and transport, as well as a councillor for Stoke Newington, announced the news on X, formerly Twitter.He said he was "honoured" to be appointed to the role by Sadiq Khan.Mr Coban will receive a salary of £147,769 and is due to start work in July'.Can you tell me where I can read his job spec and responsibilities ?You will be aware I am sure that he is now added to the list of 844 existing members of GLA staff for which Mayor Khan is responsible for appointing and deploying, that are paid more than £100,000 per annum (see below your response to my earlier query on GLA Salaries) . The salary of the London mayor is £154,963 and the prime minister's salary is £167,391.Do you think Mr Coban warrants a salary just 12% less than that of Keir Starmer ?'She replied quite rightly that she had no influence over this.I followed this up and found the following data.---------------------------------------------------The number of employees across the GLA Group paid more than £100,000 per annum as reported in TfL’s Annual Report 2023 for individuals’ base salary and the other organisations’ latest versions of their draft 2023-24 accounts was as follows:Greater London Authority: 63 (Khan's Mayoral Office team ?)Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime: 14Metropolitan Police Service: 435Transport for London: 243 (!!!!!)London Fire Brigade: 53London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC): 29Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC): 7---------------------------------------------------------🎼🎶"The working class can kiss my arse, I'm working for Mayor Khan at last"😁 

John Hawkes ● 10d

The issue is one if wasting council taxpayers' money on excessive salaries and patronising, woke initiatives.

Steven Rose ● 10d

I have no issues with rebranding once the basics such as toilets and step free access are delivered not to mention reducing crime on thetransport network.Perhaps alternative names for the lines could be given that indicate the experience of traveling on parts of the network?

Ed Robinson ● 11d

Sadiq, whose annual salary is £165k, employs eleven people on a salary of £147 700. Liz Peck, director of his ‘violence reduction unit, earns £130 248 though violent crime has risen by 30% since Sadiq was first elected in 2016.  He has also sanctioned a £6 million rebrand  of the Overground.in which branch lines have been  given new names such as one referencing the Windrush Generation. A report from Transport for London  on the effect of the changes has concluded that cultural and language issues can reduce  the confidence of Black, Asian and ethnic minority customers to ‘travel independently’, so that the rebranding helps them to travel without ‘getting lost’.

Steven Rose ● 11d

Petition now 173,461

Sue Hammond ● 14d

Mr Ainsworth,Would you turn down an honour offered for 'public education and supporting Wikipedia' ?!

John Hawkes ● 14d

I voted for Khan and I do not think he should get a knighthood - I agree with Ken Livingstone that politicians should not be knighted.Hope that clarifies.

Michael Brigo ● 15d

Whataboutery in action.The question  is does Khan deserve a knighthood

Andy Pike ● 15d

And Ken Livingstone rejected an honour. "Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London, due to be honoured for his services to the 2012 Olympics (turned down an honour in the 2013 New Year Honours due to his belief that politicians should not get such awards)."List of people who have declined a British honour:-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_declined_a_British_honour#:~:text=John%20Cleese%2C%20actor%2Fcomedian%20(,later%20declined%20a%20life%20peerage).And:-"Kenneth Williams, actor and comedian. "When offered something which obviously isn't worth the price... we still have the right to say 'No thanks'" "L.S. Lowry "holds the record for the most honours declined".

David Ainsworth ● 15d

'I could go on'.And I am sure you will !

John Hawkes ● 15d

Erm, Boris bikes were actually a Ken Livingstone invention, Boris just happened to be mayor when it was rolled out.He also wasted £53m on the garden bridge and £60m on the cable car that has about 5 regular users.I could go on

Michael Brigo ● 15d

But how does he compare with Boris who lead the highlighting of London on the world's stage with the 2012 Olympics (when was the capital's reputation higher ?) and introduced Boris bikes to improve traffic flow and reduce air pollution ?Arise Sir Boris !Mind you, now one flies further to reduce climate change than Sadiq.

John Hawkes ● 15d

Andy, I'm no fan of the ludicrous "honours" system, but if he's is judged to be an appropriate recipient, that's fine by me. After all,compare his record with that of the colossal failure in Tory candidate in the previous mayoral election, Shaun Bailey, who was given a life peerage in Johnson's resignation list!

Richard Carter ● 15d

Do you think he deserves a knighthood Rivhard? Serious question yes or no will do.

Andy Pike ● 15d

It means abdolutely nothing, especially when set beside the real vote in the mayoral election earlier this year when Sadiq received 1,088,225 votes. As you're so fond of saying in other contexts, get over it.

Richard Carter ● 15d

Petition now 167,032

Sue Hammond ● 15d

So what?

Philippa Bond ● 16d

Petition now 150,300

Sue Hammond ● 17d

Sooner he is out the better.

Barbara Stevens ● 17d

Petition now 136,400

Sue Hammond ● 17d

According to the 2021 census there were 1,318,755 Muslims living in the Greater London area, which was 15% of the population.

Sue Hammond ● 18d

".hundreds of thousands in the Brotherhood"Us males are in the minority in London :)"4.6 million women and 4.34 million men living in London in 2023"Putting aside policing, I think this Mayor and the last very much for the most part carried on with what Ken set up which was great for the last century but not fit for this time. In short they both have been cruising or perhaps flying may be more appropriate.The problem with that is with any organisations costs will rise and productivity will fall.It also seems to have a top down approach with little feedback taken from the sharp end.Basic business principles such as utilising existing investment to maximise return are not considered for political reasons.Bus and road management seems particularly poor with the only response to reducing costs being to cut services.Elon Musk may take things to extremes but we definitely need something like that in London.

Ed Robinson ● 18d

No they won't and neither will the hundreds of thousands in the Brotherhood who vote him in each time.

Sue Hammond ● 18d

I think quite a few people listed below will not be signing the petition against Mayor Khan getting a knighthood ! 'When London last had a Tory mayor in Boris Johnson, there were 45 staff on the top three rates of pay, with just 12 in the highest salary bracket. Yet under Khan’s eight year reign, almost 100 staff are on the top salary bands, with a staggering 28 earning more than £119,793 a year. Just under 20 City Hall staff are in the second highest pay bracket, raking in upwards of £92,307 annually, while more than 50 lucky staffers are sitting on pay packets of over £85,206 a year. And while Johnson had just one staff member in the Mayor’s Office on a top salary back in 2016, Khan has, er, eight. Four fat cats are receiving over £92,000 a year with another four on six-figure salaries. Talk about a splurge…'Source: The SpectatorAnyone notice how much effect these highly paid people have had on making a noticeable improvement to life in the capital ?🎼🎶" The working class can kiss my arse, I'm working for Mayor Khan at last" 💷😁

John Hawkes ● 18d

Petition now 109,000+

Sue Hammond ● 18d

PhillipaHow was Victorian times for you?Can you really compare your childhood with niw?

Andy Pike ● 19d

Excellent article!👏🏻

Sue Hammond ● 19d

Thankyou Barbara I have just signed it.👍 57,000 signatures in 48 hours!https://chng.it/6KYWGfNCH9

Sue Hammond ● 19d

Hi Sue, there is a petition to stop him getting his Knighthood. My son sent it to me on Facebook.

Barbara Stevens ● 19d

Perceptive and amusing article about Mayor Khan and what he has done for London......and world peace and climate change !https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/12/06/sir-sadiq-theyre-taking-the-mick/

John Hawkes ● 19d

Choices were made regarding transport and policing which had nothing to do with austerity.He extended the head of the MET, sacked her and then haggled about the payoff which delayed her replacement. This is just poor management.He extended the ULEZ without providing public transport first. Spent millions not on transport, when he could have increased the congestion zone without further expenditure. But that would have taxed his middle class supporters. He also helped fuel the propaganda that ULEZ compliment is clean which a lot of numpties believed because it gave them an excuse to support a regressive tax.

Ed Robinson ● 19d

Austerity was designed to take us back to Victorian times.  It made the rich richer and the poor poorer and increased the National Debt.  Household and National budgets don't work in the same way.

Philippa Bond ● 19d

I see the feudal system is working as expected.Public transport is so bad he doesn't use it and crime so high  except of course where he is because of his private police force.

Ed Robinson ● 20d

But Mayor Khan has expended a lot of effort and his travel budget and airmiles for instance, in travelling to Buenos Aires to aid his weight to the fight to avert climate change.As regards his knighthood I think he should back until he has solved the London knife and gun crime problems.And get in line behind Boris !

John Hawkes ● 20d

Do keep up David.Farage was offered a Knighthood by Boris but he had the integrity to refuse the bribe. I was aware of this at the time but was not aware of the peerages.  'I was offered TEN peerages and a knighthood from 'corrupt' Boris allies to stand aside in 2019, Nigel Farage claims'https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/28597471/nigel-farage-boris-johnson-peerages?utm_source=native_share&utm_medium=sharebar_native&utm_campaign=sharebaramp

Sue Hammond ● 20d

Reward for failure!Probably.David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping NortonTheresa Mary May, Baroness May of MaidenheadSir Keir Rodney StarmerAnd, one day, Sir Nigel of Clacton.

David Ainsworth ● 20d