As Britain's first openly HIV-positive mayor, Philip Normal says his responsibilities stretch far beyond his constituents in Lambeth, the inner-city borough that perhaps best epitomises London's demographic hotchpotch.

The new mayor, an artist and designer who runs his own fashion store in Lambeth's trendy Brixton area, has received thousands of congratulatory messages following his election by fellow councillors last month -- many applauding him for being open about his HIV status.

"No one should be obliged to reveal their status... But the response has been brilliant," Normal, 38, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

"Hopefully, it's sending a really positive ripple that will go on to smash the stigma around HIV that needs to go once and for all," says Normal, who was part of the campaign to make the life-saving PrEP HIV drug available on the National Health Service.