London Mayor Sadiq Khan has accused US president-elect Donald Trump of repeatedly targeting him because of his ethnicity and Muslim faith, a statement that reignites their long-standing feud.
Speaking on a podcast released this week, Khan, a son of Pakistani immigrants and the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital, said Trump's attacks on him were "incredibly personal."
"If I wasn't this skin colour, if I wasn't a practising Muslim, he wouldn't have come for me," Khan stated, referring to the US president-elect's criticism of him during both his presidential terms. The feud began in 2017, when Khan spoke out against Trump's controversial travel ban, which targeted several Muslim-majority countries. Trump retaliated by accusing Khan of mishandling terrorism and calling him names such as "stone cold loser" and "very dumb."
Khan, who has long been a vocal critic of Trump's policies, including his stance on sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia, emphasised his responsibility to speak out against what he described as "sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, and racist" policies.
The latest remarks come as the UK prepares to navigate its relationship with Trump in his second term. While Khan remains critical, other prominent figures in the Labour Party, such as Foreign Secretary David Lammy, have distanced themselves from past remarks made during Trump's first term. Lammy, who had once described Trump as a "woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath," now calls such statements "old news."
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, meanwhile, has sought to establish a more positive relationship with the president-elect, congratulating him on his election victory and expressing hope for a productive partnership between the US and the UK in Trump's second term.
