The US President has sensationally claimed while speaking to reporters that he banned Sir Sadiq Khan from attending events at his State Visit, saying he ‘didn’t want him there’
Donald Trump has claimed he banned London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan from attending event during his second State Visit to the UK this week.
The US President left the UK on Thursday after a grand welcome to Windsor Castle and Chequers from King Charles and Sir Keir Starmer. Trump rubbed shoulders with the Royals, major UK politicians and business leaders, especially at Wednesday night’s State Banquet.
The President has since claimed he personally demanded that Sadiq Khan should not be present during the historic State Visit. Trump and Khan have had a publicly hostile relationship with their heated words about each other dating back to 2017.
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Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he headed back to the US, said: “He wanted to be there, as I understand it. I didn’t want him. I didn’t want him there. I asked that he not be there.
“I think the Mayor of London, Khan, is among the worst mayors in the world and we have some bad ones. I think he’s done a terrible job.” Trump claimed crime in London has soared “through the roof” while Khan has led the city.
The President added: “I’ve not liked him for a long time. I have a certain pride in London, in the UK, my mother was born in Scotland, and when I see Mayor Khan do a bad job – the stabbings, the dirt and the filth – it’s not the same. I didn’t want him there.”
Khan blasted Trump before the Commander-in-chief touched down in the UK this week. The London Mayor, in a scathing message, accused Trump of being the key figure in fanning the flames of “divisive, far-right politics”.
On Tuesday night, Khan said: “President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years.”
Writing in The Guardian, Sir Sadiq said: “We must also tell President Trump and his supporters to stop talking down and denigrating our great capital city.
“London is a global success story, no matter how much he wants to pretend otherwise. It’s open, dynamic and safer than every US state in terms of homicide rates.” The Mirror has reached out to Sadiq Khan for comment.
Trump first bashed the London Mayor in 2017 when he criticised Khan’s response to the London Bridge terror attack. He has also called Khan a “nasty person” and accused him of doing a “terrible job”.
In 2018, during Trump’s previous visit to the UK, The London Mayor’s office gave permission to protesters to fly a now infamous giant balloon depicting Trump as an angry orange baby in a nappy through the streets of London.