Sadiq Khan has claimed that Donald Trump routinely attacks ‘incredibly successful’ London because he is jealous.
The Mayor of London reignited his war of words with the US President yesterday as he said the capital is safer than any American city.
Sir Sadiq claimed that Mr Trump only attacks the capital because he is ‘jealous he hasn’t got any global cities in America that can compete with London’.
The Mayor, who has been in office since 2016, also said that MPs who criticise the capital are ‘unpatriotic’ as he accused them of attacking London because it’s ‘incredibly successful’.
It is the latest skirmish in a long-running feud between the Labour Mayor and the US President, with Mr Trump earlier this month branding Sir Sadiq a ‘horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor’.
Sir Sadiq questioned whether Mr Trump was ‘obsessed’ after the President said: ‘He’s an incompetent mayor, but he’s a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job. London’s a different place.’
Mr Trump has also claimed that parts of London had become no-go zones for the police, while vice-president J. D. Vance claimed in 2024 that London was becoming an ‘Islamist country’.
In an interview with the Financial Times yesterday, Sir Sadiq said London has become a proxy in a bitter culture war, which he claimed had spilled over into an increase in racism in the capital.
Sadiq Khan has claimed that Donald Trumproutinely attacks ‘incredibly successful’ Londonbecause he is jealous
Mr Trump has also claimed that parts of London had become no-go zones for the police, while vice-president J. D. Vance claimed in 2024 that London was becoming an ‘Islamist country’
He said: ‘I think some of this may be a President who’s jealous he hasn’t got any global cities in the US that can compete with London. New York is a great city, it’s probably the second greatest city in the world.
‘But I’d be happy to compare Trump’s favourite city’s subway with our Elizabeth Line.
‘There are far fewer homicides in London than in any state in the US, far fewer than in New York, LA or Chicago.’
Sir Sadiq said he understands why Mr Trump would want to talk down a rival global metropolis, but said he was more disappointed that ‘unpatriotic’ British MPs would follow suit.
‘I can see that they are worried about London’s success,’ he said ‘That’s because we are a diverse, progressive, liberal and multicultural city that’s incredibly successful. We’re the antithesis of all the stuff they talk about.’
The Mayor also warned Sir Keir Starmer not to adopt tax policies that are driving away the rich.
‘The idea that all non-doms are bogeymen is not my experience,’ he told the newspaper.
