7 of the best reactions to Sadiq Khan winning a third term as London mayor | indy100

London mayor Sadiq Khan casts vote in local election

PA

Some said it would be close between him and Tory candidate Susan Hall, but Labour’s Sadiq Khan has won the London mayoral election for a third time - with a 43.8 per cent share of the vote (more than 1 million votes) compared to Hall’s 32.7 per cent (just over 811,500 votes).

Khan’s win also sees him secure a bigger majority compared to 2021, rising from some 228,000 votes against Shaun Bailey to more than 276,000 votes against Hall – it equates to a 3.2 per cent swing from the Conservatives to Labour.

Hall’s campaign had been surrounded in controversy and memes in the run-up to the vote, ranging from losing her Oyster card on the Tube, to her bizarre campaign posters and, arguably more seriously her membership of a Facebook group containing Islamophobic content and threats to Khan, who is a Muslim.

Despite Hall telling LBC she had apologised for past actions on social media – with resurfaced activity including expressing support for Donald Trump and liking a tweet featuring Enoch Powell (the late Conservative MP most known for his infamous “rivers of blood” speech on immigration) – Khan told the broadcaster Hall was “the most dangerous candidate I’ve fought against”.

Now, with Khan re-elected, social media users have reacted with a range of memes referencing the past 24 hours of anticipation and discussion – from Tories briefing the race was a lot closer than they first thought, to arguing the vote ‘vindicates’ Khan’s divisive Ulez policy, and celebrating the likes of ex-GB News host Dan Wootton being upset about the result:

Tory accounts currently deleting their tweets from the last 24 hours about \u2018rumours of\u2019 Susan Hall beating Sadiq Khan. #LondonMayoralElection
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#LondonMayoralElection\nOur cockney Nana\nOur dinner lady.\nLard on her apron\nSticky mints & Oyster cards lining her pockets.\nSusan Hall, we are in mourning.\nYou offered funk & porridge.\nNow everyone in London will be stabbed & die of clean air.\nYou were London\u2019s Virgin Hairy.\n\ud83d\ude14
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Susan Hall's strategy of telling Londoners that they live in a crime-ridden, festering shit hole, that could only be improved with more cars and pollution might have gone down well with xenophobic bigots .... but it was never going to work in the place it mattered.
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the haters said Susan Hall couldn\u2019t do it. and they were correct. honestly great call from the haters
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Well done Sadiq Khan! A total vindication of your policies on ULEZ, LTNs, free school meals, 20mph zones, and cycling and active travel. And a total rejection of the racist, polluting, dishonest and scare-mongering facebook tactics of Susan Hall and the Tories. Well done Sadiq!!
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Susan Hall lost the mayoralty, but found her wallet, so these are very much mixed results for Rishi Sunak
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Dan Wootton, here, threatening to leave London - albeit a fictional London that only exists in his head. \n\nWhat a fabulous bonus to @SadiqKhan\u2018a historic third term!
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The Conservatives’ defeat in the London mayoral election is just part of a wider, humiliating loss in elections all over the country, with the Tories losing more than 470 councillors and Labour gaining 185.

In other news, Count Binface finished third from last in the contest, beating London Real Party candidate Brian Rose (the man who drank his own urine) and Nick Scanlon of the far-right Britain First.

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