WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has once again criticised London Mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him a “national disgrace” who is destroying the UK’s capital.
His comments came after five violent attacks in London in less than 24 hours left three men dead and three injured.
President Trump’s tweets follow a long-running feud with Khan.
LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster – will only get worse! https://t.co/n7qKI3BbD2
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2019
Retweeting a post by right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins about this weekend’s violence in London, the president said Khan was “a disaster” and the capital needed a new mayor.
The USA president Trump later followed it up with another post saying: “He is a national disgrace who is destroying the city of London!”
In response, Khan’s spokesman said the mayor’s thoughts were with the victims’ families and he “is not going to waste his time responding to this sort of tweet”.
The mayor was focused on supporting the city’s communities and “over-stretched” emergency services, he added.
The London Mayor later tweeted: “Violent crime has no place in our city, and there’s no higher priority for me than Londoners’ safety.”
Corbyn tweeted in defence of Khan, saying he was “rightly supporting the police to do their job while Katie Hopkins spreads hateful and divisive rhetoric”.
President Trump and Khan have clashed many times in the past.
The president called Khan a “stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London” shortly before landing in Stansted ahead of his three-day state visit to the UK earlier this month.
It followed comments from the mayor of London that the UK should not be “rolling out the red carpet” for Trump during his visit.
In the past Mr Trump has challenged Khan to an IQ test and been critical of his response to the London Bridge attack in 2017.
