London mayor Sadiq Khan called Donald Trump “Islamophobic” and “racist” on Wednesday after the US president appeared to suggest the British politician wanted to introduce sharia law in the UK’s capital city.
Khan, of the centre-left Labour party, and the Republican Trump have traded insults for years, with the latest row stemming from comments the president made at the United Nations this week.
“I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he is Islamophobic,” the Mayor of London told Sky News.
During his speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump said: “I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been changed, it’s been so changed.
“Now they want to go to sharia law. But you are in a different country, you can’t do that,” he added, referring to the Islamic law code based on the teachings of the Koran.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made a considerable effort to try to stay in Trump’s good books, including with an unprecedented second state visit to the UK last week.
Khan said London was top of many indicators such as foreign investment, adding he was “really proud that we are the greatest city in the world”.
Earlier on Wednesday, government minister Pat McFadden said Trump was “misreading” London.
Khan, who is Muslim, has been London’s mayor since 2016. That year he criticised Trump over the then-presidential hopeful’s proposed travel ban for people from some Muslim-majority countries.
Before Trump’s first state visit in 2019, Khan likened Trump to “European dictators of the 1930s and 40s”.
Trump has called Khan a “stone cold loser” and previously challenged him to an IQ test.
“I think I’ve got squatters’ rights for the amount of time I’ve spent in Donald Trump’s head,” Khan told ITV London on Wednesday.
“I’m just hoping he doesn’t send me an invoice for all the time I’ve spent there.”
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