Sadiq Khan and Muslim Mayor of London

London: Sadiq Khan becomes 1st Muslim mayor of London They gave Khan a standing ovation as he pledged to be an approachable "Everyman" for his city of 8.2 million — including more than a million residents who, like him, happen to be Muslim. "I'm determined to lead the most transparent, engaged and accessible administration London has ever seen, and to represent every single community and every single part of our city as a mayor for Londoners," said Khan, the son of Pakistani-born immigrants, who became a civil rights lawyer and London first Muslim member of Parliament in 2005. "So I wanted to do the signing-in ceremony here, in the very heart of our city, surrounded by Londoners of all backgrounds," he said in Southwark Cathedral, a few kilometres north of the state housing project where he grew up, according to CBC. Khan Labour Party candidacy to lead London triumphed in the face of a Conservative campaign seeking to tar him as sympathetic to Islamic extremists. Khan celebrated his landslide election victory Saturday in a multi-denominational ceremony at an Anglican cathedral accompanied by London police chief, Christian and Jewish leaders, and stars of stage and screen. Supporters said Khan own message — that a victory for him would show the world how tolerant and open Britain was — carried far more power. That the beauty of it." Conservative tactics questioned Leading Muslim activists in the Conservative Party expressed shame and anger over their own candidate Zac Goldsmith attacks on Khan, saying they had recklessly stoked racism and intolerance. Actor Ian McKellen greets the newly elected Sadiq Khan ahead of his signing ceremony at London Southwark Cathedral on May 7, 2016. "To have a Muslim mayor seems preferable to me to any alternative regardless of the politics," said actor Sir Ian McKellen, who greeted Khan at the cathedral gates. "I hope it an image that will go round the world as representing a new sort of England that at peace with itself regardless of race and so on. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.