Trump’s UK visit should be cancelled, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan

LONDON: Mayor London Sadiq Khan hitting back at Donald Trump after his uncalled for criticism said that the US president’s visit to Britain should be cancelled.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, Khan said Trump was had been wrong about “many things” and the government should cancel his state visit to UK, expected in October.

After the June 5 London attacks, Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticise the mayor, blaming him for making excuses in the wake of continuous attacks in London.

Khan had said in one of his first statements in reaction to the attack that people would see an increased police presence on the streets of the capital and should not be alarmed by that, which Trump had taken out of context to criticise him.

Sadiq Khan in his interview said he does not think they should roll out the red carpet to the US President in the circumstances where his policies go against everything they stand for.

Trump had faced severe criticism on Sunday over an earlier Tweet attacking Khan, saying “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is "no reason to be alarmed!"

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Tuesday he saw no reason to cancel Donald Trump´s state visit. "He (Khan) is entirely right to say what he said to reassure the people of his city about the presence of armed officers on the streets," Johnson said in a BBC radio interview in response to a question on whether Trump´s state visit should be cancelled.

"The invitation has been issued and accepted and I see no reason to change that but as far as what Sadiq Khan has said about the reassurances he´s offered the people of London, I think he was entirely right to speak in the way he did."

"I don´t wish to enter into a row between those two individuals who are I think are probably perfectly able to stick up for themselves," he said of Trump and Khan.

Responding to claims by US reporters that Trump "picked a fight" with Khan "because he was Muslim", the White House press secretary said, "I think that to suggest something like that is utterly ridiculous."