A London bakery began selling Sadiq Khan doughnuts on Thursday morning – but quickly withdrew them from sale after an apparent mix-up over a special order.
Dunn’s bakery in Crouch End has traditionally sold doughnuts representing the main candidates in mayoral elections as a fun way of assessing support on election day.
On Thursday morning it began offering iced doughnuts – filled with Tiptree raspberry jam and featuring a picture of Mr Khan - for £1.25.
But they were removed from display by mid-morning, with the shop’s spokeswoman saying they had been made to fulfil a pre-order and were “put out by accident” by staff.
It later emerged that the doughnuts had been held back for Mr Khan, who was making an unannounced visit to the bakery.
The news of his visit was broken on Thursday afternoon by Joanne McCartney, one of his deputy mayors.
It is not known who placed the special order for the doughnuts.
Mr Khan introduced a ban on the advertising of junk food across the Transport for London network during his second term.
Unlike previous elections, Dunn’s did not have any doughnuts on sale that featured Mr Khan’s mayoral rivals.
Mr Khan visited the shop in 2016, when he was first standing to be mayor, to see how his doughnuts were selling in comparison to his rivals at the time – Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Pidgeon and Sian Berry.
In his book Breathe, published last year, he told how he returned to the bakery in 2021, when he was up against Tory rival Shaun Bailey.
Mr Khan wrote: “On election day in 2016, I had discovered that Dunn’s was running a competition using doughnuts with mayoral candidates’ faces on. Whichever doughnut sold the most won.
“It had taken all of my self-control not to immediately call off Haringey’s GOTV [get out the vote] operation to send hundreds of Labour activists to buy anthromorphised Sadiq doughnuts. In 2021, I was pleased to discover, Sadiq doughnuts were indeed on sale. Another good omen! The me doughnut seemed to be winning.”
Mr Khan cast his vote on Thursday morning in Tooting, accompanied by his wife Saadiya and dog Luna.
Ms Hall voted shortly after 7am in Harrow, accompanied by her daughter, Louise.
More than two million Londoners are expected to vote – with the winner declared at City Hall from about 10pm on Saturday.
