Sir Sadiq Khan has said Donald Trump has shown he is “racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic” after the president made comments about him to the United Nations.
Speaking to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, the US president said London had “a terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been changed, it’s been so changed”.
He added: “Now they want to go to Sharia law.”
Speaking to London, the mayor said: “People are wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multi-cultural, progressive and successful city, that means I appear to be living rent-free inside Donald Trump’s head.”
He added: “I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he is Islamophobic.”
When asked if he thought the president was Islamophobic, the mayor said: “When people say things, when people act in a certain way, when people behave in a certain way, you’ve got to believe them.”
Responding to the president calling him a “terrible mayor”, he said he was “thankful we have record numbers of Americans coming to London”.
He added that different criteria showed London was “often the number one city on the globe when it comes to culture”.
The White House has been approached for comment.
EPAReligious courts, including Sharia councils, do operate in the UK. Most of their work deals with religious marriage arbitration and they may also rule on financial matters.
The government has been clear that their rulings are not legally binding.
Earlier this month justice minister Sarah Sackman told the House of Commons that Sharia law formed “no part of the law of England and Wales”.
She added: “Where people choose to put themselves before those councils, in common with Christian, Jewish and other courts of faith, that is part of religious tolerance which is an important British value.”
The Church of England’s ecclesiastical courts have jurisdiction over some aspects of church property and criminal conduct by clergy while Jewish religious tribunals, known as Beth Din, are a voluntary religious tribunal where individuals can resolve disputes based on Jewish law. The Roman Catholic Church operates tribunals that consider spiritual issues and marriage annulments.
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden defended Sir Sadiq on Wednesday.
He said the London mayor and the US president “have had a beef for some years” and rejected the claim that London wanted to “go to” Sharia law.
He said British law and “no other kind of law” applied in the UK.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that with President Trump, people should “never take what he says literally, ever, on anything, but always take everything he says seriously”.
Speaking during an LBC phone-in, he added: “So is he right to say that Sharia is an issue in London? Yes.
“Is it an overwhelming issue at this stage? No.
“Has the mayor of London directly linked himself to it? No.”
He added: “I think what Trump was aiming at with his big pitch that the West (is) going to hell is it’s in danger of losing its culture, its heritage, its identity.”
PA MediaThis is not the first time the United States’ leader has attacked Sir Sadiq.
In 2019 he called London’s mayor, who was re-elected for a third term in 2024, a “stone cold loser”.
In the past Trump has challenged Sir Sadiq to an IQ test and been critical of his response to the London Bridge attack in 2017.
In July, during a visit to Scotland, the president called Sir Sadiq “a nasty person” who had “done a terrible job”.
Sitting beside the president, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer intervened when Trump condemned Sir Sadiq, saying: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”
