 The incumbent mayor Sadiq Khan announced in June 2018 that he intended to stand for re-election.Later that year, he was automatically re-selected to be Labour's candidate after receiving sufficient nominations from local party groups and affiliated trade unions to avoid a selection process in which other candidates would be able to stand against him for the nomination.His re-selection followed speculation that a figure from the left of his party could challenge him for the candidacy given Khan's disagreements about the "direction of the party" with the then national party leader Jeremy Corbyn.