Sadiq Khan has said that “London will always be for everyone” in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States.
The mayor, who was the focus of attacks from Trump when he was last president, said that asserting the capital’s progressive values was more important than ever following the Republican candidate’s win over Kamala Harris.
Trump, whose victory was confirmed early on Wednesday morning, branded Khan a “stone cold loser” after arriving in London for a state visit in 2019. The mayor had previously said the UK should not be “rolling out the red carpet” for the president.
Khan said: “I know that many Londoners will be anxious about the outcome of the US presidential election. Many will be fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women’s rights, or how the result impacts the situation in the Middle East or the fate of Ukraine. Others will be worried about the future of Nato or tackling the climate crisis.
“London is – and will always be – for everyone. We will always be pro-women, pro-diversity, pro-climate and pro-human rights.
“London is a place where we’re proud of our diversity, proud of the contribution of all our communities and proud of our spirit of unity. These are some of the values that will continue to bind us together as Londoners.
“The lesson of today is that progress is not inevitable. But asserting our progressive values is more important than ever – re-committing to building a world where racism and hatred is rejected, the fundamental rights of women and girls are upheld, and where we continue to tackle the crisis of climate change head on.”
In 2017 Trump was condemned by Theresa May, then the Conservative prime minister, for spreading Islamophobic messages from a British far-right group on social media.
That led to Greenwich Council declaring that the “bigoted” president was not welcome in the borough, with Labour councillors saying that Trump’s actions echoed the far-right groups that were active in the borough in the early 1990s.