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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has ruled himself out of the race for the Labour leadership.

Mr Khan said he was "absolutely" more interested in being Mayor of London than the Labour leadership.

But the former Tooting MP has some advice for hopefuls planning to run to replace Jeremy Corbyn .

He said whoever wins the Labour leadership race needs to be reflective on the party's general election loss.

He said: "I think any of the candidates who straight away gives an explanation for why we lost, I question their credibility.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's really important for the next leader of the Labour Party to be a winner.

"We've got to start winning general elections, not losing them.

"I don't believe in heroic failure, we don't improve anybody's lives by losing elections."

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)

Explaining why he isn't interested in the leadership himself, Mr Khan said: "My focus has got to be dealing with the issues we are talking about.

"Rough sleeping, making sure we're continuing to build record numbers of council houses, making sure we're fixing the air in London."

(Image: PA)

He added: "What I want to do as the Labour Mayor of London is show it's possible to be pro-business, pro-enterprise, but also pro-social justice.

"It's really important we persuade the entrepreneur to vote Labour, as well as the nurses, doctors, cleaners in the NHS.

"We've got to persuade people who voted leave to vote Labour, as well as those who voted remain."

Labour leaders have to be a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party - so even if Mr Khan did want to run, he'd have to be elected as an MP first.

He explained: "I think we showed in 2016, the difference winning elections makes by winning the Mayoralty after eight years of a Conservative mayor.

"We've showed over the last four years the difference Labour winning can do.

"My focus is on delivering for Londoners and when the campaign begins next year to win the mayoral election [...] so we can continue improving people's lives for the better."