London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has been "rewarded for failure" after receiving a knighthood from the King, former mayoral candidate Howard Cox has claimed.

Speaking to GB News, Cox declared he feels "physically sick" after seeing Khan being given the top honour at Buckingham Palace.

The London Mayor said he was "truly humbled" to have received the knighthood in the King's New Year Honours.

He added: "Obviously from my background being the son of immigrants, my parents coming here from Pakistan, it's a big deal for us, but also it's a recognition of the way in which public service can be recognised, and I'm really grateful."

Howard Cox hit out at Sadiq Khan's knighthood, claiming it makes him 'physically sick'

Reacting to his honour on GB News, Cox told host Martin Daubney: "We should be after the watershed before I can actually say anything, but I just got back from a campaign meeting because I'm preparing for the spending review tomorrow regarding fuel duty for Fairfuel UK.

"And a building contractor doing some work in my home said to me, 'Howard, have you heard Sadiq Khan is now Sir Sadiq Khan?', and the words he actually used are so colourful, it was disgusting colourful language that cannot be repeated."

In a pointed attack on Khan, Cox fumed: "How an anti-British politician who has destroyed London's economy and the road infrastructure can be knighted is sick."

Martin pointed to suggestions that Khan has helped improve environmental standards by implementing cycle lanes and "low traffic neighbourhoods", Cox offered his own examples of London statistics under Khan's reign.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, was formally knighted by King Charles at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday

Cox stated: "Violent crime since he's been involved is up 35 per cent, sexual offences up 51 per cent, there's a rape reported every hour. Homicide is up 5 per cent, knife crime is up 54 per cent.

"Machetes you can get in every corner shop now, trains are covered in graffiti, Jews are scared to go into London, he's not building affordable housing, as he promised. He's ignored public consultations, which I was very close with on the Ulez expansion, which two out of three people are against. He just said, forget it, I'm ignoring that, we're still going ahead with it."

Hitting out at whoever "recommended" Khan for the knighthood, Cox told GB News: "My point is this, it's very, very simple, he's been rewarded for failure.

"And yet I just don't understand, and I'd love to know, who actually recommended him for a knighthood. Is this just a default thing that because he's Mayor of London he gets a knighthood?"

Cox told GB News that people should be honoured for 'doing the job well'

Cox raged: "These are the sorts of things that really upset me beyond belief. And I have to say to you, I feel very emotional, very upset and physically sick about this man being rewarded for failure."

Asked by Martin if he believes in banning all honours for politicians, Cox partly agreed, claiming that the work of volunteers and campaigners often goes "unnoticed".

He said: "My feeling has always been this way, if you're paid to do the job and you do it well, that's enough for reward.

"But if you're a volunteer, and there's a lot of people out there day in, day out delivering things voluntarily, helping people beyond belief who are not rewarded, they're not noticed by the media, because they're not a sexy person or a sexy name."