US President Donald Trump has lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Photo / AP
US President Donald Trump has branded Sadiq Khan a "national disgrace" who is "destroying" London as he reignited his war of words with the Mayor following violence in at the weekend.
The US President tweeted: "LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse!" as he retweeted a post from right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins who referred to the capital as "stab city".
In a follow-up attack on Khan, Trump wrote: "He is a national disgrace who is destroying the City of London."
The remarks came following the killings of three men in London in less than 24 hours, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Two teenagers were murdered within minutes of each other in different parts of the capital, while a man was stabbed to death.
A spokesman for Khan said he was wasn't prepared to "waste his time" preparing a response to Trump, adding the Mayor's thoughts were with the victims' families.
He said: "Sadiq is focusing on supporting London's communities and over-stretched emergency services.
"He has been in regular touch with senior Met police officers last night and throughout the day.
"His thoughts are with the victims' families. He is not going to waste his time responding to this sort of tweet."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn came to defence of Khan, saying he was "rightly supporting the police to do their job while Katie Hopkins spreads hateful and divisive rhetoric".
Trump's intervention was the latest in an increasingly acrimonious feud with Khan that started in 2016 when the Mayor criticised the President's travel ban by Executive Order which targeted several Muslim-majority countries.
Their conflict was reignited this month after Khan offered a rebuke of the President's "values", to which Trump responded by calling him a "stone cold loser" who had done a "terrible job".
The US President and London Mayor have clashed in the past, including on Trump's state visit at the start of June.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. Photo / AP
Trump branded the Mayor a "stone cold loser" in a two-part tweet as he touched down in Britain on June 3.
The Labour Mayor then accused the President of "playground behaviour" and claimed he was a "poster boy" for the far-right.
An 18-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Wandsworth on Saturday, minutes before another 19-year-old man was fatally shot in Plumstead.
Just hours later, a man in his 30s was killed in Tower Hamlets, east London.
Three men were also stabbed in a separate attack in Clapham during a weekend of violence in the capital.
The Metropolitan Police said 14 people - including several boys and a girl - have been arrested in connection with the incidents in Wandsworth, Plumstead and Clapham.
- The story has been edited from the original Daily Telegraph text which stated: Trump's intervention was the latest in an increasingly acrimonious feud with Khan that started in 2016 when the Mayor criticised the President's Executive Order banning all Muslims from entering the US.
