Sadiq Khan will be the next Labour prime minister, Jeffrey Archer has predicted.
The author and former Conservative MP said while he expected Jeremy Corbyn to be re-elected Labour leader later this month, “the next Labour prime minister is the current mayor of London”.
Khan may not be too keen on the endorsement however. Lord Archer had to abandon his bid to become mayor of London in 1999 after the News of the World reported he had persuaded a friend to lie ahead of a court case.
Lord Archer told the Media Masters podcast: “He has had a wonderful start. We ran a bad campaign against him. It was ill-informed and bad. And he has had a very impressive start.
“Boris was very near to being prime minister and I suspect Mr Khan will be the next Labour prime minister.”
Khan has said the idea of “giving up” the London mayor job to be Labour leader did “not appeal”. However he has not ruled out running for the job in the future.
The mayor has urged Labour members to back Owen Smith in the leadership contest as Corbyn has “failed to win the trust and respect of the British people”.