Sadiq Khan wants a showdown with Donald Trump after his ‘war zone’ attacks on London after spate of stabbings
City Hall boss says he will ‘show him how diverse we are as a city’ after the US leader said a hospital in the capital ‘is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds’
SADIQ Khan said he is “more than happy” to have a showdown with Donald Trump when he visit the UK after the President’s repeated attacks on the London Mayor over violence in the capital.
The City Hall boss says he will “show him how diverse we are as a city” after the US leader said a hospital in the heart of the city “is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds”.
Speaking on the BBC's Today programme, Mr Kahn revealed he had not been asked to meet Mr Trump but would “of course” do so if asked.
It would no doubt be a frosty encounter given the string of barbs that have been sent between the two men over the past 18 months.
The President slammed the mayor’s response to the London Bridge terror attacks last year, attacking him for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed”.
Mr Khan hit back, with a spokesman saying: "He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump's ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police - including armed officers - on the streets."
He then blasted Trump for retweeting a series of unverified, anti-Muslim videos shared by far-right party Britain First, calling it a “betrayal of the special relationship”.
And they clashed again over the delayed announcement of Mr Trump’s visit to Britain, saying the White House had “got the message” Londoners didn’t want him to come.
After it was finally confirmed the Commander in Chief would be heading across the pond in July, Mr Khan said he should be braced for mass demonstrations.
Speaking today about a potential meeting during the visit, the former Labour minister said: “Bearing in mind some of the things that President Trump has said about diversity, about those who follow my faith, about London, I would be more than happy to meet with him.
“I would show him how diverse we are as a city and how that is a strength and that it is possible to be a Londoner, a Westerner and a Muslim. They are not mutually incompatible.”
He added: “I’d also make the point to President Trump, in a respectful way, that I think those who are our closest allies, those with whom we have a special relationship and those who are our dear friends, I don’t think should be amplifying messages of hate by retweeting, for example, tweets by Britain First.”
Suggesting he would be potentially willing to take him to task, Mr Khan said: “One of the joys of having close mates is to be able to call them out when they’re wrong.”
It comes after Mr Trump was branded a “disgrace” for seeking to justify gun ownership in America by comparing his own country’s record to the surge in stabbings in London this year.
Speaking at a pro-gun rally for the National Rifle Association he said: “I recently read a story that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital right in the middle is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds.
“Yes that’s right, they don’t have guns, they have knives. And instead there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital. They say it’s as bad as a military war zone hospital.”
But Labour MP Sarah Jones, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime, tweeted: “What a disgrace. Comparing apples and pears.
“Do we have a problem in the UK with rising knife crime? Yes we do. Is it any way comparable to off-the-scale US gun violence? No, of course not. He should be ashamed.”
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And the Tory MP Paul Scully said: “Knife crime is a serious issue and it is far too important to sensationalise.
“There is no excuse for bringing it into a debate about gun crime. It’s very unhelpful. It sensationalises an issue which costs lives and ruins families.”
Over the bank holiday weekend five people were shot in just 24 hours, including a 13-year-old.
The death of 17-year-old Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton in Kennington brought the number of people murdered on the streets of London so far this year to 62.