Sadiq Khan announces bid to become London Mayor

Sadiq Khan, the Labour MP for Tooting, has launched his campaign to be the party's candidate for the mayor of London in 2016.

Khan's announcement comes just two days after he stood down as Labour's shadow justice secretary and shadow minister for the capital. His announcement also comes on the same day that the party's selection contest for its 2016 mayoral candidate official begins.

"London has made me and my family who were are," Khan said. "I wouldn't have got to go to university but for the teachers at my school. My parents wouldn't have been able to have a council property built but for the generosity of this city...the city has made me who I am."

"I have had a chance to speak to my friends, family and my constituents to see how I can best give back something to my community and my city. I want to give something back, and the best thing I can do is to try to be mayor of this fantastic city."

David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham who many think is weighing up a leadership bid following Ed Miliband's resignation, became the first Labour figure to announce their mayoral aspirations when he came forward as a candidate in September 2014. The writer and transport expert Christian Wolmar has also officially declared his intention to stand in the party contest.

Dame Tessa Jowell and Diane Abbott, both female London MPs, are also expected to announce their candidacies.

Labour will fancy its chances in next year's election. Boris Johnson, the current mayor, will step down following his election as an MP for Uxbridge. With no clear Conservative figure to replace the charismatic mayor, Labour, which increased its number of MPs in the capital at the election to 45 out of 73, with 44 per cent of the vote, will look to win back the mayoral position which Ken Livingstone held between 2000 and 2008.