Sir Sadiq Khan has admitted that Sir Keir Starmer's first year as Prime Minister "hasn't been great".
The London Mayor, who was speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, also warned Labour supporters against being "delusional" to the difficulties Sir Keir has faced since he romped to victory in the 2024 General Election.
Sir Sadiq said: "Those people that say it has been a great first year … I think they are letting the party down.
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"It hasn’t been a great first year. There have been great things that have happened in this first year, around the rights for renters, around the rights for workers, around energy security, and I could go on.
"But as first years go, it has not been a great first year."
The former Tooting MP also admitted that Labour had “lost the memory of running things”, having been out of power for 14 years.
However, the London Mayor offered Sir Keir hope of pulling off a comeback at the next General Election.
Despite opinion polls now pointing to a victory for Nigel Farage's Reform UK, Sir Sadiq compared to situation facing Labour to being 2-0 down in a football match.
Sir Sadiq Khan
|PA
Sir Sadiq, who is a Liverpool fan despite being the Mayor of London some 230 miles away, argued: "The great news is we have turned it round before, we have won games before where we’re 2-0 down, we can do it again."
Sir Sadiq's comments come just hours after a Labour MP appeared to pressure him into making a decision on whether to run for a fourth term as London Mayor.
The 54-year-old, who entered City Hall for the first time in 2016, has not yet decided if he will stand down at the 2028 London Mayoral Election.
However, ex-Shadow Equalities Minister Dawn Butler admitted that she will run to succeed Sir Sadiq if the London Mayor confirms plans to step down.
Sir Keir Starmer
|PA
Ms Butler said: “London Mayor, to represent London. I’m a Londoner through and through, born in East London.
“Just having London the way I have experienced it and seen it and just making London wonderful for everyone and everyone being proud of London and being a Londoner… Yeah, I’d love to be a Mayor of London.”
After being pushed on whether she would run in 2028, Ms Butler added: “Once there’s a vacancy, I will pop my hat in the ring.”
During his appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sir Sadiq also spoke out about his ongoing spat with US President Donald Trump.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Dawn Butler, MP for Brent East at a reception during the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool | PAResponding to Mr Trump's "nasty person" tirade, Sir Sadiq said: “On a personal level, it is water off a duck’s back, but we can’t run away from the fact that there are some really serious challenges we face as a western society and President Trump, in my view, I speak generally, isn’t a force for good.”
He added: “I suspect President Trump may have formed a view of Muslims because of the actions of a small minority of really bad people who are terrorists and use Islam in a perverted way.
“What I would want President Trump to know is that is a very small fraction of Muslims across the globe.
“So if there was an opportunity to meet President Trump, I would be more than happy to do so.”
Keir Starmer set to speak to Donald Trump | GETTYHowever, Sir Sadiq admitted that he would be “more than happy to meet President Trump”.
The London Mayor added that he would seek to show him that it is “possible to be proud to be a westerner and a proud to be Muslim, that it is possible to be British, and proud to be British, and be of Pakistani origin and be a law-abiding citizen and we aren’t three-headed monsters”.
Mr Trump will return to the UK for an unprecedented second State Visit next month.
However, Mr Trump will yet again meet Sir Keir later today as leaders from across the West meet at the White House to discuss the President's efforts to end the war in Ukraine.