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Islington’s outgoing housing chief has vowed to work flat out “to get London building” after being appointed as Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for housing.

James Murray was formally given the post by the new London Mayor this week, taking on responsibility for advising Mr Khan on housing at City Hall. As this is a non-political role, he will resign from his post as Barnsbury ward Labour councillor, triggering a by-election.

“I’m going to support Sadiq to do whatever we can to ensure we build a huge number of new homes, but also to ensure we build much more affordable homes,” Mr Murray said, speaking to the Tribune after clearing out his Town Hall office.

“We will also set out to improve standards in the private rented sector, fight homelessness and make sure London becomes a fairer place.”

At 32, Mr Murray already has a decade of experience as a councillor, and six years as housing chief.

His interest in housing started early – his parents met while working for Notting Hill Housing trust.

During his time in charge, Islington saw just over a third affordable homes built in new developments between April 2010 and March 2015. During that period, 1,160 new social rented homes were built in Islington and 640 other homes classed as affordable – an average of 36 per cent of all new-builds.

“The 50 per cent target is a long-term strategic goal,” Mr Murray said. “Getting towards that is going to take a lot of effort over a number of years. It’s important to recognise what a legacy of failure Sadiq has inherited from Boris Johnson, which is going to be a millstone around the necks of Londoners for years to come.

“Sadiq got into City Hall and the first thing he did was to ask for an audit on where we are in tackling the housing crisis, and the figures we got back showed we were in an even worse position than we feared.”

Islington had several high-profile clashes with former Tory Mayor and Angel resident Boris Johnson during his eight-year tenure at City Hall, usually over planning matters. According to Mr Murray, on developments approved in London last year Mr Johnson secured only 13 per cent affordable housing.

Claims that developers lobbied against Mr Murray’s appointment, based on his record of blocking schemes without enough affordable homes, were shrugged off by London’s new housing chief.

“Since Sadiq won, we’ve been meeting with councils, housing associations, developers and businesses across London, and what strikes me is that there’s a huge amount of agreement that we need to get London building,” he said.

Asked if he harbours ambitions to become an MP, Mr Murray added: “Right now, I want to get on with building homes for Londoners. I’ve got a really ingrained sense of serving the people. It’s now on a bigger scale but the principle is the same: You’ve got to look Londoners in the eye and say: ‘I’m working flat out for you.’”

The Town Hall is expected to reveal its new housing chief next week. The Barnsbury ward by-election will be held on July 14.