Erstwhile solicitor Sadiq Khan was guest of honour at the University of East London this week for a special event to unveil new facilities at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. These include a mock courtroom.

The London mayor let on to the assembled throng that his first love was dentistry, for which he studied maths and science at A-level. A teacher saved him from a lifetime’s scrutiny of the epiglottis by pointing out that he was always arguing. It’s hard to take issue with someone undergoing root canal surgery, so why not become a lawyer instead?

‘After a few years, it got to a point where a colleague said to me, “Sadiq, you’re always arguing with the government. Maybe you should become a politician”. So I did that, too.’

Asked about his legal education, Khan told students law was ‘the best thing you can study’, naming several eminent types who studied law – Lincoln, Nehru, Mandela, Obama and Blair. Not Starmer though. Must have slipped his mind.

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