London Mayor Sadiq Khan has expressed a willingness to meet Donald Trump, even as he warned that the US President could be “inadvertently radicalising people” and is “not a force for good”.
The Labour politician dismissed the US President’s recent jibes, made during a visit to Scotland, where Trump labelled him “a nasty person” who has “done a terrible job”. Sir Sadiq stated such remarks were “water off a duck’s back”.
However, speaking at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he admitted that the exchanges sometimes made him feel like he was “nine years old again” and “in the school playground”.
But Sir Sadiq, speaking at the Political Party show with comedian Matt Forde, hit back at the US President, saying: “Somebody who has views like he does about black people, about women, about gays, about Muslims, about Mexicans, thinks I’m nasty.
“Really. He is the leader of the free world, arguably the most powerful man in the world, and really.”
He spoke out as he said that records showed since the middle of January this year – when Mr Trump began his second term in the White House – and July “there have never been more Americans applying to British citizenship and living in London”.
The Mayor said: “So I think Americans have got good taste by and large.”
He added that he hoped the President would come to London during his state visit to the UK next month, with Sir Sadiq stressing the “diversity” of the capital was a “strength, not a weakness”.
Speaking about this diversity, he insisted: “I think it makes us stronger not weaker, richer not poorer.
“And when President Trump says some of the things he does, it brings from the periphery to the mainstream, views that are potentially dangerous.
“He inadvertently – I’m not going to suggest he does it deliberately – he inadvertently could be radicalising people with views that could lead to them doing things that are dangerous.”
He spoke out about fears that minorities “could be treated less favourably because of the views of the President of the USA” as he accused Mr Trump of “using London and our diversity as a political football, as a proxy for a culture war”.
The London Mayor continued: “On a personal level, it is water off a duck’s back, but we can’t run away from the fact that there are some really serious challenges we face as a western society and President Trump, in my view, I speak generally, isn’t a force for good.”
However he insisted that he would be “more than happy to meet President Trump” saying he would seek to show him that it is “possible to be proud to be a westerner and a proud to be Muslim, that it is possible to be British, and proud to be British, and be of Pakistani origin and be a law abiding citizen and we aren’t three headed monsters”.
The Labour politician said: “I suspect President Trump may have formed a view of Muslims because of the actions of a small minority of really bad people who are terrorists and use Islam in a perverted way.
“What I would want President Trump to know is that is a very small fraction of Muslims across the globe.
“So if there was an opportunity to meet President Trump, I would be more than happy to do so.”
