The day before Dame Susan Langley formally stepped into one of the most prestigious positions in the City of London, she woke up before 4am to be carried through its dark, eerily quiet streets in a horse-drawn golden carriage.
The journey was part of the rehearsal for the pomp and pageantry that accompanied Langley as she was sworn in on Friday as the City’s 697th Mayor, a one-year ceremonial role with responsibility for championing the Square Mile’s interests.
But the ancient office that can be traced back to 1189 is making one historic break with tradition by naming Langley its first Lady Mayor. Though she is the third woman to hold the post, the others carried the Lord Mayor title.
Langley says she wants a “modern mayoralty”, a vision that contrasts sharply with the swearing-in ceremony at Guildhall.
During the solemn proceedings, Langley was presented with various historic items to ‘bless’, including a sceptre, a purse, and an ancient seal of the mayoralty by officials who walk backwards bowing three times, known as the three reverences.
The start of Langley’s tenure was marked by her lifting a tricorne feathered hat to her head while facing the outgoing Lord Mayor, Alastair King, who simultaneously took his off.
In the role, Langley plans to “unsquare the Square Mile” and do away with the trend of having one key theme. King, for example, used his time to encourage greater pension fund investment in British assets.
“The soft power of the mayoralty is completely underestimated,” said Langley. Her top priority will be “using the Mansion House to match capital with opportunity” and bring fresh talent into the City.
“I want to be known for doing a good job,” Langley said. “I can’t change policy but I can convene and be the representative of the sometimes mixed views in the City — we have the ear of government.”
Amid growing fears banks and City firms will be targeted with fresh tax raids in the upcoming Budget, there are plenty of things to whisper to chancellor Rachel Reeves.
“I hear the same rumours as you, but the key [thing] is we have to keep the City competitive — we’re competing on a global landscape,” Langley said.
“There are lots of specifics that could be addressed, such as stamp duty on shares, but, actually, we should focus on how we could simplify the business landscape as much as possible.”
Langley would be opposed to any plans for a bank levy and stresses the importance of Britain encouraging “entrepreneurs who create jobs, livelihoods and pay tax”.
Sir William Russell, the British financier who held the post for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, heralds Langley’s appointment as “progress” for a historic institution he compared to the Vatican.
“The mayoralty has changed a lot but it needs to keep evolving and be transparent,” he added.
Langley, also the non-executive chair of insurer Gallagher, is in many ways a departure from the City’s status quo.
The daughter of an electrician father and a stay-at-home mother, Langley grew up in Bow, in London’s East End, and was the first in her family to attend university. She says she was taught her A-levels in a chemistry cupboard because her secondary school did not have a sixth form.
But she rejects the idea that she comes from a so-called underprivileged background. “I had one of the most privileged childhoods,” she said. “Because I had a loving family who believed in me and they told me anything’s possible.”
Yet her appointment was still something of a “pinch me” moment, said Langley, who recalls watching the Lord Mayor’s parade as a child from her grandfather’s shoulders.
“It makes the hairs on my arm go up because I could never have thought at the time that [one day] it would be me in that carriage,” she said.
Langley started her career in financial services after a graduate traineeship scheme at Thomson, the tour operator. She went on to join PwC, and then entered the insurance industry with roles at Hiscox and Lloyd’s of London. Later, she joined the government-backed Women’s Business Council and was a director at the Home Office.
Baron Mark Sedwill, a former cabinet secretary who has known Langley since her time in the Home Office, said she was “taking the role of the office rather than person — a deliberately humble approach to the position”.
Aviva chief executive Dame Amanda Blanc said Langley was “just what the City of London needs”.
“She will be a thoroughly modern Lady Mayor who will be a terrific champion of London’s financial services industry.”
With just eight female FTSE 100 chief executives, the City still struggles to shake off accusations of being an old boys’ club.
But Langley believes it is more of a meritocracy than other industries.
“I can talk from experience,” she says. “I can tell schoolchildren that the City is open and welcoming, but you have to be brave and step forward and you have to have resilience.”
