Sadiq Khan tells Jeremy Corbyn to get into the habit of winning
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, just over a week into his new job, has told Labour it needs to get into "the habit of winning".
Speaking after his victory over Zac Goldsmith, Khan said that Labour should study the victories of John Smith and Tony Blair, using their strategy to win the election.
On the importance of winning, Khan told the Guardian: "I’ve achieved more in these seven days than in the last six years in opposition."
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"We need to understand that Cameron’s government is as bad as John Major’s. If you compare and contrast what John Smith and Tony Blair did during that period, compared to now, that is the trajectory we need to be on if we want to win in 2020.
"It is all about winning, winning for a purpose. There is no such thing as a heroic failure. We have to get back into the habit of winning elections.
"The Labour party in the 1990s wasn’t just looking at the Labour voters we had, it was trying to reach out and target seats. The famous toehold strategy, you win one seat in one ward as a toehold to try to win seats elsewhere," he added.
Talking about what MPs in the Labour party should be doing to help Corbyn get past the line in 2020, Khan replied: "I think it is more a question of what Jeremy should be doing. If you are leader you want to use all your talents. I think politics is a team sport, and we came together as a team. I think we’ve got to be united as a party. Divided parties don’t win elections."
In an attempt to bridge gaps within the party, Corbyn will today address Progress, a centrist Labour group.
In what was a wide-ranging interview, Khan also said that David Cameron had called him to ask for help in pushing for a large turnout in the EU referendum vote in London, which is largely pro-EU.