Little Englanders, it’s time to give Sadiq Khan a break

Hell, I wait so long to be right about something and then two bits of stuff come along at once. Nine months ago I said Sadiq Khan would become London’s mayor – partly because he was a very good candidate and a likeable bloke – but more because London is one of the world’s most leftie liberal constituencies. Which should tell you about Boris’s campaigning abilities, no?

I also suggested that Labour would do better in the local elections than commentators – and desperate PLP recusants – were predicting. They did. In London, Corbyn is an actual asset to Labour. Beyond the vile metropolis, he is no more of a yoke around the party’s neck than was the hapless cockwomble Miliband. He could still win an election, in alliance with the ginger-bushed hordes of the north, and maybe the Lib Dems, and the Greens. Corbyn is dense, but he is also authentic, in a middle-class kinda way. Densely authentic, then. It plays better than Miliband’s haute bourgeois leftism.

One more thing – leave Sadiq Khan alone. We have Muslims in this country, and there are problems associated with this undoubted blessing. Khan is one Muslim who has done everything of which even the most dyed-in-the-wool little Englander would approve. Integrated, embraced secular politics, worked his way up with diligence, principle and intelligence. That’s what we want, isn’t it? You may not agree with all of his politics. But to accuse him of sympathising with terrorists is wildly far of the mark. Well done, Sadiq. A hugely deserved win.