LONDON — The mayor of London has labeled Donald Trump “racist, sexist and Islamophobic” after the president used a United Nations General Assembly address to call him a “terrible mayor” and falsely claim the city wanted to be governed by Islamic law.
“I think Donald Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he’s Islamophobic,” Sadiq Khan told reporters Wednesday.
The pair have traded many barbed comments since Khan was elected to lead London in 2016 — Khan strongly criticized the president the same year for pledging a travel ban on a number of majority-Muslim countries, which was enacted in 2017. Trump called the Londoner and former member of Parliament “a nasty person” in a July news conference.
“I think people are wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, progressive, successful city that means I appear to be living in Donald Trump’s head, rent free,” Khan said.
Trump used a section of his speech to the U.N on Tuesday to take swipes at various member states and the institution itself.
“I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been changed, it’s been so changed,” he said. “Now they want to go to Sharia law. But you are in a different country, you can’t do that.”
Initially, Khan’s team at City Hall released a statement saying: “We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response.”
But Wednesday, speaking from the top deck of a London bus, Khan said he was thankful for the “record numbers of Americans” coming to live in London, which he said was the highest since records began. “There must be a reason for that,” he said.
Khan’s pointed criticism was in contrast to the approach taken by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Last week saw King Charles III and Starmer welcome Trump and first lady Melania Trump for a lavish state visit — an unprecedented second official trip to Britain for a sitting president.
Particularly after Trump launched a global trade war, with tariffs impacting scores of close allies including the United Kingdom, very few world officials have seemed willing to so openly criticize the president or his policies.
Asked whether Britain should be extending such friendship to Trump, Khan said: “If you have a best friend, you should expect more from them — it’s very different to an acquaintance or somebody who’s a distant friend.”
While he said the U.K. and the U.S. have important economic and military ties, Khan said such a relationship should mean one side has the confidence to call out the other. “I think that President Trump is wrong in many, many ways,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Khan, who represents Britain’s Labour Party and is characterized as being on the center-left, social democratic wing of the party, won a third third term in office in 2024.
The prevalence of Sharia law in the U.K. features in many right-wing conspiracy theories about the role of Muslims in the country, often partnered with the similarly false assertion that parts of big cities are dangerous “no-go areas” for non-Muslims.
In reality, there are Sharia councils, which base decisions on traditional Muslim beliefs and religious texts, but they have no legal jurisdiction — as a government review found in 2018.
Anger persists over the president’s comments about London: Rosena Allin-Khan, the Labour lawmaker who now represents Khan’s old constituency in south London, has called for the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. to be summoned over the remarks.
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