U.S. President Donald J. Trump has issued a damning indictment of London Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying he has done a “terrible job” on terrorism and crime.
“I think allowing millions and millions of people to come into Europe is very, very sad,” the President told The Sun, ahead of his working visit to the United Kingdom.
“I look at cities in Europe, and I can be specific if you’d like. You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in London. He has done a terrible job.
“Take a look at the terrorism that is taking place. Look at what is going on in London. I think he has done a very bad job on terrorism,” he added.
Khan, who (in)famously suggested that terrorism was “part and parcel of living in a great global city”, admitted that there were around 200 former Islamic State fighters at large in the British capital shortly after the London Bridge terror attacks.
He indicated he could not tell the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to have them all followed because he was only responsible for “15 to 20 percent” of the force’s budget and had to husband his resources wisely — although he was able to find money for a £1.7 million “online hate crime” hub in 2016.
Khan also suggested the terror threat had nothing to do with mass migration, claiming falsely that the London Bridge terrorists “hadn’t come from overseas”. In fact, the three killers were all born abroad in Pakistan and North Africa, and two came to Britain posing as asylum seekers.
President Trump also criticised Mayor Khan’s record on London’s ongoing crime wave, saying he has “done a bad job on crime, if you look, all of the horrible things going on there, with all of the crime that is being brought in”.
A leading trauma surgeon at one major London hospital recently admitted that London was beginning to look “more like South Africa” and predicted “carnage” in 2018 — and indeed, the latest London Assembly Police and Crime Committee figures show the murder rate has increased by 44 percent.
Addressing the President’s remarks on the crime being “brought in” to the capital, Khan hit back, suggesting the link between immigration and crime was unproven.
“He’s linking immigration in Europe with the rising crime… crime in England and Wales has been going up for the last four years including in London; South Yorkshire has seen a rise in crime of 61 percent over the last 3-4 years, Manchester more than 50 percent — and it’s for President Trump to explain why he thinks this is linked with immigration,” the Labour politician told Sky News.
However, black Londoners — who are more likely to be both victims and perpetrators of violent crime in London — told the London Evening Standard that the escalation in violence had been driven by immigration in no uncertain terms in 2017.
“In the last 10 years, since the Somalis and the Congolese came to London, they taught us a whole new level of violence,” one gang member told the newspaper.
“[W]hen they said, ‘I’m gonna smash you up,’ us guys would be shouting, ‘Yo blud, wot you mean?’ and they would just pull out a blade and juk [stab] you in the chest. It upped the speed and level of violence for us British-born guys. We had to arm up to protect ourselves. It created an upward spiral.”
President Trump also explained why he would not be spending much time in Khan’s city during his visit, indicating that stunts like the ‘Trump baby balloon’ authorised by the Mayor were clearly calculated to make him feel “unwelcome”.
“I used to love London as a city. I haven’t been there in a long time. But when they make you feel unwelcome, why would I stay there?” he asked — although he also said that “the people of the UK agree with me” on immigration, and had warm words for some pub landlords who renamed their establishment ‘The Trump Arms’ in honour of the visit.
“I love those people. Those are my people”, he said.
Khan defended his decision to authorise the “obscene” balloon, saying: “The reality is, it’s not for me to decide what’s in good taste or bad taste,” and claiming he was upholding “freedom of speech and freedom of expression”.
This would appear to be at odds with decisions earlier in his mayoralty to ban adverts featuring attractive women from the London Underground, and his aforementioned work to criminalise so-called “hate speech”.