Donald Trump has renewed his extraordinary attack on Sadiq Khan, saying the mayor of London made a “pathetic excuse” when he told Londoners that there was no reason to be alarmed by additional police on the streets.
In a series of tweets, the US president appeared to misrepresent Mr Khan’s statement. The mayor had made clear that he was advising people not to be concerned by the presence of additional armed officers in the capital in the days to come, and not playing down anxieties about the London Bridge attack itself.
Mr Trump tweeted: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”
This prompted Mr Khan’s spokesman to state that the mayor has “more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed” tweet.
This appears to have irritated the president further and encouraged him to renew his criticism.
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“Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement,” he wrote on Twitter. “MSM (mainstream media) is working hard to sell it!”
A spokeswoman for Sadiq Khan refused to comment on the latest tweet, saying only: “The mayor is focused on dealing with Saturday’s horrific and cowardly attack.”
Theresa May attempted to sidestep questions about Mr Trump by choosing to praise Mr Khan’s response to the terrorist attack without directly criticising the US president.
Asked if Mr Trump was wrong in his assessment of the London mayor, the prime minister said: “I think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job and it’s wrong to say anything else. He’s doing a good job.”
Asked if she wanted a period of silence from Mr Trump she replied: “I’m very clear that Sadiq is doing a good job as mayor of London.
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“We’re working with him, working together and that’s important. Central government and the London mayoralty and his officials working together to ensure we are responding to the attack and looking, as I said earlier, at the work that the police is doing to give the public extra protection and extra reassurance. We want people to go about their business.”
On what Mr Trump would have to say for her to criticise him, Mrs May said: “I’ve been very clear, I’ve been very happy to say when I think President Trump is wrong: to have taken America out of the climate change agreement, the Paris agreement.
“The United Kingdom stays in it and we believe it’s an important international agreement. So I’m not afraid to say when I think President Trump is getting things wrong.”