- By Thomas Mackintosh
- BBC News
Mr Khan has been mayor of London since 2016 and is the primary Muslim to maintain the place
Sadiq Khan has described remarks by the previous Tory deputy chairman as “pouring fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred”.
Lee Anderson advised GB News “Islamists” had “got control” of the mayor of London.
His phrases, which comply with pro-Palestinian protests outdoors Parliament, have been condemned by some Conservatives.
But Mr Khan criticised Rishi Sunak and his Cabinet for what he known as a “deafening silence”.
On Friday, Mr Anderson advised GB News: “I don’t actually believe that the Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London… He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates.”
The Ashfield MP’s remarks prompted criticism from Labour and a few Conservatives – together with former chancellor Sir Sajid Javid who reposted the video of Mr Anderson making the feedback and wrote “a ridiculous thing to say”.
In response, Mr Khan described Mr Anderson’s feedback as “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist”.
“These comments pour fuel on the fire of anti-Muslim hatred,” Mr Khan stated.
“I’m afraid the deafening silence from Rishi Sunak and from the Cabinet is condoning this racism and confirms to many individuals throughout the nation there’s a hierarchy when it comes to racism on this nation.
“I’m unclear why Rishi Sunak and members of his Cabinet aren’t calling this out and condemning this.”
His feedback adopted an article by former house secretary Suella Braverman within the Daily Telegraph, by which she stated “the reality is that the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in cost now”.
A Tory supply earlier advised the BBC: “Lee was merely making the purpose that the mayor, in his capability as police and crime commissioner for London, has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we now have seen in London not too long ago.”
But Neil Garratt, chief of Conservatives at City Hall, stated he had “no scarcity of criticisms of Mayor Khan” but added “he’s not an Islamist, he’s not within the pockets of Islamists, and I fully disagree with anybody who says in any other case”.
Mohammed Amin, a former chair of the Conservative Muslim Forum who resigned after Boris Johnson grew to become chief in 2019 and is now a Liberal Democrat, advised the BBC politicians have a accountability across the language they use and defined what sort of motion he would anticipate to see from the Conservative Party.
“I might have anticipated the prime minister to take rapid motion by denouncing the feedback and calling Mr Anderson into Downing Street to clarify himself,” he stated.
“If he failed to give a passable rationalization, then to think about eradicating the whip from him.
“That’s the kind of action I would have expected David Cameron to take in the good old days, but sadly the Conservative Party has deteriorated very badly since then.”
The BBC has approached Mr Anderson and the federal government for remark.
