Sadiq Khan’s first book is ostensibly structured as a self-help title in the vein of, say, Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It tackles his commitment to “effective climate action” and presents obstacles – fatalism, apathy, cynicism, deprioritisation, hostility, cost and gridlock – and then addresses how to overcome them. But it is also a memoir in which each one of the seven chapters concerns a new episode in the story of Khan’s political career, framed around the personal awakening that took place in the aftermath of his 2015 selection as Labour’s candidate for London mayor.
Aged 43, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with asthma, which his GP explains has become an increasingly common consequence of poor air quality in the city. He is further inspired by the campaigning of activist Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter, Ella, died of asthma aged nine in 2013 because of exposure to south-east London’s toxic air. He recognises connections between air pollution, global heating, public health and racial inequality. Then, in 2016, when he is challenged – in a campaign seen by many as explicitly racist – by the Conservative party’s environmental champion, Zac Goldsmith, he comes out on top and an alternative approach to environmental action starts to form that aligns itself with the principles of social justice. This informs Khan’s approach to cleaning London’s air, protecting the city’s most vulnerable communities from the worst carbon emissions and ordinary Londoners from the harshest economic costs of change.
As a memoir, Breathe is quite thin – it offers few insights into the inner life of London’s mayor. But as a window into his political operations, it is significant, arriving roughly a year before Khan will seek a historic third term at City Hall – the prize that has eluded all of his predecessors. Should he win, it would be no mean feat. A year ago, his approval rating was down to 38%. He avoided open selection to secure the Labour candidacy last December, but he has been criticised inside the party for a perceived lack of political vision. He will also have to overcome changes to the electoral system that are expected to swing things in the direction of his (yet to be selected) Tory rival.
Voter ID reforms are likely to significantly reduce the turnout of BAME voters who Khan has been able to count on in the past (around 2.5 million Londoners have no driving licence, a large percentage of whom are black and Asian people), while the change, for the first time in a London mayoral election, to a first-past-the-post mechanism means he won’t benefit from second-preference votes. In 2021, almost all of Green candidate Siân Berry’s roughly 200,000 first-preference votes went to Khan, taking his lead over Conservative Shaun Bailey from 5% to 10%.
This combination of factors suggests a closer contest next time, in which Khan’s ability to persuade Green voters not to split the left vote but to back him from the outset could be a decisive factor in determining the outcome. Breathe sets out his stall, furthering the “son of a bus driver” narrative that drove his first successful mayoral campaign in 2016 . Now he portrays himself as an accomplished and pragmatic statesman who has harnessed London’s power to advance the climate agenda.
He covers his key achievements in office including the delivery on the city’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2018, the introduction of the ultra-low emission zone [ULEZ] in 2019, London’s designation as the first “national park city” in 2019 and leadership, since December 2021, of C40 Cities, a mayors’ network, which now speaks, Khan writes, for “over 700 million citizens [around the world] and one quarter of the global economy” and through which London’s climate policies have “gone global”. A further term, he suggests, could see the fruition of plans to “make public transport better and more appealing… plans for a further £3m mass-tree-planting initiative and to introduce a new, more comprehensive road-user charging system”.
As ideas, these are not the most visionary, and Breathe will not score Khan points for political imagination, but the strategic lessons he imparts do mark him out as an exemplar for an age of climate breakdown and progressive governance. The book succeeds as a manual, too, for how to elevate the public discourse and deserves to be widely read, not least by a Labour leadership that has shown itself increasingly open to falling back on questionable campaign lines.
Ahead of a general election that is likely to take place before the end of 2024, Khan’s book reminds us that this approach didn’t work for Goldsmith at the ballot box. Ultimately, as its title promises, Breathe is a breath of fresh air, offering an antidote to cynicism and demonstrating the power of a politics that aims to bring people together in the search for solutions.
• Breathe: Tackling the Climate Emergency by Sadiq Khan is published by Cornerstone (£16.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
