The incumbent mayor defeated Conservative Susan Hall by 275,000 votes reports Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter
Sadiq Khan left his Tory opponent Susan Hall ‘hanging’ on stage, after she tried to congratulate him on his re-election by shaking his hand.
Hall, who lost out to the Labour mayor by over 275,000 votes, extended her arm after it was formally confirmed that he had defeated her.
But Khan did not seem to see her at first, as he stared ahead at the crowd of journalists and party campaigners who had come to watch the result declaration.
The Conservative candidate appeared to twice tell him “well done”, before he turned and shook her hand.
In his victory speech, the mayor did not pay tribute to Hall or thank her in any way.
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He did say however: “We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity. But I couldn’t be more proud that we answered fear-mongering with facts, hate with hope and attempts to divide with efforts to unite.”
He suggested that the Tory campaign consisted of “right-hard-wing populism”.
Hall could be seen shaking her head as Khan promised to “always be a mayor for all Londoners”.
In her concession speech, Hall congratulated the mayor on his victory, before saying that she hopes he will make tackling crime his “top priority”.
“He owes it to the families of those thousand people who have lost [their] lives to knife crime, under his mayoralty,” she said.
She added: “I will continue to hold Sadiq to account, to stand up for hard-working families, for motorists and for women.
“I love London, and I urge Sadiq to try harder to make it better, for all our sakes.”
In percentage terms, Khan received 43.8 per cent to Hall’s 32.7 per cent. He is the first London mayor to win a third term.
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