LONDON – A baby-shaped blimp meets a thin-skinned president: cue therenewal of a war of words between Donald Trump and London’s first Muslimmayor link> , 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 begana contentious four-day trip to Britain this week.
“You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in London,” he said in aninterview with Friday’s edition of The Sun newspaper.
It was the latest potshot in a feud that began when Khan, the son of a busdriver who emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s, criticised Trump’s travelban on people from certain Muslim countries.
Khan responded Friday by saying terrorism was a global problem which alsoaffected 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 aspate of terror attacks in London.
Distorting a message from Khan, telling Londoners there was “no reason tobe alarmed” by an increased police presence, Trump tweeted: “At least 7dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘noreason to be alarmed!'”
At the time, Khan criticised Trump as “ill-informed” and on Friday, laudedthe “special relationship” between Britain and the United States.
Asked if the new row could jeopardise that bond, he said: “It takes two totango, and I’m not tweeting President Trump or saying beastly things abouthim.”
Pigs and babies
Khan added: “I think our prime minister (Theresa May) should have theconfidence to speak to the US president on equal terms and it’s forPresident Trump to say what he wants about me; I’m not going to rise toPresident Trump’s views.”
Khan is a member of the opposition Labour party. His predecessor as Londonmayor was the Conservative Boris Johnson, who resigned this week as foreignsecretary in protest at May’s blueprint for Brexit.
In his Sun interview, Trump accused May of violating British voters’ wisheswith the plan and, for good measure, praised Johnson as an alternativeprime minister.
If Johnson and Trump are kindred spirits politically, Khan this weekauthorised a plan by protestors to float a six-metre (19-foot) inflatableof a distinctly orange nappy-clad baby bearing Trump’s face above London’sParliament Square on Friday.
Trump’s attack on May’s Brexit plan drew scorn from across the politicaldivide as being ill-mannered during a high-profile visit. But the presidenttold The Sun that Khan himself had “not been hospitable to a governmentthat is very important”.
“Now he might not like the current president, but I represent the UnitedStates,” he said, insisting that “millions” of Britons supported his hardline on immigration.
The London mayor has powers over policing and transport in the capital ofeight million people, but does not control immigration policy, which is setnationally by the Home Office.
Khan’s authorisation for the “angry baby” stunt has infuriated Trumpsupporters in Britain such as Brexit champion Nigel Farage, who called itan “insult”.
Conservative MP Michael Fabricant was accused of Islamophobia aftertweeting a cartoon showing the Muslim mayorlink> ‘s head on an inflatableballoon, engaged in a sex act with a pig. Fabricant later deleted the tweetand apologised.
But the war of words escalated as Labour lawmaker David Lammy said Trump’sreal problem with Khan was not about policy but the mayor’s faith.
“He hates that London chose a Muslim mayorlink> . The President is racist. Hedoes not deserve to meet our Queen today #StopTrump,” he tweeted. – APP/AFP