War of words with London's mayor
A baby-shaped blimp meets a thin-skinned president: cue the renewal of a war of words between Donald Trump and London's first Muslim mayor, encompassing terrorism, crime and good manners.
Mayor Sadiq Khan has "done a very bad job on terrorism", Trump declared, linking immigration to a deadly wave of knife crime in London, as he began a contentious four-day trip to Britain this week.
"You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in London," he said in an interview with yesterday's edition of The Sun newspaper.
It was the latest potshot in a feud that began when Khan, the son of a bus driver who emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s, criticised Trump's travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries.
Khan responded yesterday by saying terrorism was a global problem which also affected other European cities.
"What is interesting is Trump is not criticising mayors of those cities, but he is criticising me," he told BBC radio.
Trump's comments blaming immigration for crime in England were "preposterous", he said.
The president ridiculed Khan in June last year following the latest in a spate of terror attacks in London.
Distorting a message from Khan, telling Londoners there was "no reason to be alarmed" by an increased police presence, Trump tweeted: "At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is 'no reason to be alarmed!'"
At the time, Khan criticised Trump as "ill-informed" and yesterday, lauded the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States.
Comments