Reports Sadiq Khan could join Starmer’s cabinet dismissed by allies

Allies of Sadiq Khan have dismissed reports the London mayor could join Keir Starmer’s cabinet after being made a peer, although it remains possible he could join the Lords while keeping his current job.Downing Street said reports that Khan could become a peer after crucial elections in May across England, Scotland and Wales were “speculation”, while a Labour source also declined to comment.Any decision on a peerage was one for No 10, Khan’s allies said, but they ruled out the possibility cited by the Financial Times that Khan could be brought in to strengthen Starmer’s cabinet after joining the House of Lords.Khan spent a decade as a London MP before stepping down in 2016, having won the first of three consecutive election victories to be London mayor, a role where he has had some success in courting support beyond Labour’s core vote, such as Greens and Liberal Democrats, to defeat Conservative opponents.A role for Khan working closer with Starmer could be sold by No 10 as the prime minister making full use of Labour’s talents, particularly given that the London mayor has at times been critical of the government, for example warning after the Gorton and Denton byelection loss to the Greens that Labour must stop taking progressive voters for granted.But sources close to the mayor said he was committed to focusing on the last two years of his current term, pointing out that he has not yet announced whether he wants to seek a fourth term.This would not be necessarily incompatible with a place in the Lords for Khan, who was knighted last year. Ben Houchen was made a peer in 2023, while serving his second term as Tees Valley mayor, and subsequently winning a third term.Houchen is an active member of the Lords, if less so than some peers. In 2025 he attended 20% of Lords sittings and spoke once in the chamber.Another wave of new peerages is expected soon, in part under a reported plan that will allow the Conservatives to reinstate about 15 hereditary peers as life members of the Lords. The 92 remaining hereditary members have lost their places after a bill was passed to remove them.As of the end of last year, Starmer had already created 96 new peers, 65 of them Labour, in part as an attempt to help legislation pass the upper house. The Lords currently has 868 members, of whom 842 are active, making it the second largest legislative chamber in the world after China’s National People’s Congress.