Category Archives: sadiq khan

Keir Starmer Warns Social Media Is Not A ‘Law-Free Zone’ After Sadiq Khan Reveals Concerns

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Keir Starmer signalled that a firmer crackdown on social media may be in the works after the London mayor Sadiq Khan expressed his concerns.

After a week and a half of far-right riots – partially driven by social media disinformation and online conspiracy theories – Khan said the government has “very swiftly” realised the Online Safety Act needs to be amended.

The mayor added: “I think it is not fit for purpose.”

The Online Safety Act became law last October, and allows regulator Ofcom to fine social media companies up to £18m or 10% of their global turnover if they do not take illegal content off their platforms.

However, these fines will not come into effect fully until 2025.

On Friday, the prime minister was asked for his response to Khan’s comments.

He said: “I do agree that we’re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder, but the focus at the moment has to be on dealing with the disorder and making sure that our communities are safe and secure.”

Starmer added: “This is not a law-free zone. And I think that’s clear from the prosecutions and sentencing. Today we’re due sentencing for online behaviour.”

Two people linked to inciting the violence seen all over the UK in the last few days online have now been jailed.

The PM continued: “That’s a reminder to everyone that whether you’re directly involved or whether you’re remotely involved, you’re culpable, and you will be put before the courts if you’ve broken the law.”

He said tech bosses should be “mindful of the first priority, which is to ensure that our communities are safe and secure”.

Starmer did not directly mention the boss of X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, who has been in a war of words with the PM over the riots.

He responded to various clips of extremists clashing with the police, claiming “civil war in inevitable” in the UK and pushing conspiracy theories like “two-tier policing”.

Khan, one of the most high-profile Muslim politicians in the UK, also told the Guardian on Thursday that he felt “triggered” by the racist riots.

He said: “I’m somebody who grew up in the 1970s and 80s and experienced the National Front and the BNP and I thought that’s behind us.

“Like a lot of people of my generation, I felt triggered by the events of the last couple of weeks in particular.”

Khan has regularly faced abuse online too – but he noted it was not “realistic” to boycott any social platforms.

“One of the ways we can address people’s fears is using the medium that’s used by citizens and that is social media platforms.” he said.

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Lee Anderson Says He Won’t Apologise To Sadiq Khan ‘While I’ve Got A Breath In My Body’

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Lee Anderson is unrepentant about comments branded as Islamophobic that led to him being suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party.

Last week, the Tory party’s former deputy chairman said London mayor Sadiq Khan has “given our capital city away to his mates”, and “Islamists” had “got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London”, referring to pro-Palestine protests in the capital in recent weeks.

The party whip was removed from Anderson after he made the comments on Friday – but Rishi Sunak has since insisted that while his words were “wrong”, Anderson is not “a racist person or an Islamophobic person”.

In an interview with GB News broadcast on Monday, Anderson admitted his language was “clumsy” – but remained fully behind the sentiment.

He told the broadcaster: “I think the party could have given me a little bit more backing, if I’m honest.

“You saw the statement that I produced on Saturday, which I was willing to go with. It’s shown a little bit of contrition in there, although I didn’t directly apologise to Mayor Khan, which I’m not going to, not while I’ve got a breath in my body because the comments I made weren’t racist at all.

“They keep bandying this word Islamophobia and nobody can explain what it really means.”

After being suspended, Anderson said in a statement: “Following a call with the chief whip, I understand the difficult position that I put both he and the prime minister in. With regard to my comments, I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.

“However, I will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms, be that antisemitism or Islamophobia.”

In the GB News interview, he also claimed to have had “lots of support in my WhatsApp, an amazing amount of support”.

When asked whether the support was all Tory MPs, he replied: “Yeah, there’s no Labour MPs.”

Writing in the Evening Standard newspaper, Khan said Anderson’s comments had “poured petrol on the fire” of hatred against Muslims.

He said some Conservatives were adopting “a deliberate, dangerous political strategy – a strategy to weaponise anti-Muslim prejudice for electoral gain”.

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Lee Anderson Suspended By Tories After Refusing To Apologise For Sadiq Khan Comments

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Lee Anderson has been suspended by the Tories after he refused to apologise for claiming Islamists have “got control of” Sadiq Khan.

The party’s former deputy chairman was stripped of the Conservative whip following a furious political backlash to his comments.

Appearing on GB News on Friday afternoon, Anderson said the London mayor, who is Muslim, had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

Khan described the remarks as “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist”, while senior Tories also condemned them.

Conservative officials initially tried to defend Anderson, with a party source telling HuffPost UK he “was simply making the point that the mayor … has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we have seen in London recently”.

But this afternoon, a spokesperson for chief whip Simon Hart said: “Following his refusal to apologise for comments made yesterday, the chief whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson.”

The Ashfield MP later said he accepted the party “had no option” but to take the whip off him.

He said: “Following a call with the chief whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the prime minister in with regard to my comments.

“I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.

“However, I will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms – be that anti-semitism or Islamophobia.”

It is a dramatic fall from grace for Anderson, who was still one of the Tories’ deputy chairs last month.

He and party colleague Brendan Clarke-Smith quit so they could rebel over Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill.

Just a week later, he said he should have voted for the bill and wanted his old job back.

Responding to the news that he had lost the Tory whip, Labour chair Anneliese Dodds said: “Lee Anderson’s comments were unambiguously Islamophobic, divisive and damaging.

“It is right that he has had the whip removed, but the suggestion that Lee Anderson would have retained the confidence of the prime minister, simply if he apologised, is deeply concerning.

“These views are wrong, full stop, and there shouldn’t be conditions on removing them from your party.”

Dodds also repeated Labour’s call for Liz Truss to also lose the Tory whip over comments she made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC.

The former prime minister claimed the Financial Times was “friends of the deep state”, which had worked to bring her time in Downing Street to an end.

Dodds said: “Labour is calling on the prime minister to also remove the whip from Liz Truss for her egregious and embarrassing comments about our country on the international stage and if he doesn’t then he is not serious about ridding the Conservatives of radical and dangerous views.”

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Lee Anderson Accused Of ‘Islamaphobia’ Over Attack On Sadiq Khan

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Lee Anderson is at the centre of a racism row after he claimed Islamists have “got control of” Sadiq Khan.

The former Tory Party chairman provoked a furious backlash by saying the London mayor, who is Muslim, had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

His comments, on GB News, were apparently a reference to the pro-Palestine marches which have taken place in London since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

They came after former home secretary Suella Braverman claimed that “Islamists” are now running the country.

Anderson said: “I don’t actually believe that these 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 added: “This stems with Khan. He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates … beware, because if you let Labour in through the back door, expect more of this and expect our cities to be taken over by these lunatics.”

Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “Lee Anderson’s comments are unambiguously racist and Islamophobic. Rishi Sunak needs to immediately remove the whip. If he is too weak, then people will take their own view of the modern Conservative Party.”

A London Labour source: “This sort of vile Islamaphobia is exactly how the Tories campaigned against Sadiq Khan in 2016. Surely they will not tolerate it this time round?”

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: These comments from a Conservative MP are despicable. Rishi Sunak should remove the Conservative whip. There should be no space for this in our country, let alone in parliament.”

Former Tory MP Gavin Barwell, who was also Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was prime minister, said Anderson’s comments were “a despicable slur”.

But a Conservative Party source defended Anderson’s comments.

He told HuffPost UK: “Lee was simply making the point that the mayor, in his capacity as police and crime commissioner for London, has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we have seen in London recently.”

Those comments were then slammed by shadow health secretary Wes Streeting.

The row came as Liz Truss was condemned over her appearance alongside former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon at a right-wing conference in America.

At one point, Bannon referred to far-right activist Tommy Robinson as a “hero”, but the former prime minister said nothing.

Sajid Javid, who served in several Tory cabinets alongside Truss, criticised her for not confronting Bannon.

A spokesman for Truss did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost UK.

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Lee Anderson Accused Of ‘Islamophobia’ Over Attack On Sadiq Khan

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Lee Anderson is at the centre of a racism row after he claimed Islamists have “got control of” Sadiq Khan.

The former Tory Party chairman provoked a furious backlash by saying the London mayor, who is Muslim, had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

His comments, on GB News, were apparently a reference to the pro-Palestine marches which have taken place in London since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

They came after former home secretary Suella Braverman claimed that “Islamists” are now running the country.

Anderson said: “I don’t actually believe that these 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 added: “This stems with Khan. He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates … beware, because if you let Labour in through the back door, expect more of this and expect our cities to be taken over by these lunatics.”

Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “Lee Anderson’s comments are unambiguously racist and Islamophobic. Rishi Sunak needs to immediately remove the whip. If he is too weak, then people will take their own view of the modern Conservative Party.”

A London Labour source: “This sort of vile Islamophobia is exactly how the Tories campaigned against Sadiq Khan in 2016. Surely they will not tolerate it this time round?”

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: These comments from a Conservative MP are despicable. Rishi Sunak should remove the Conservative whip. There should be no space for this in our country, let alone in parliament.”

Former Tory MP Gavin Barwell, who was also Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was prime minister, said Anderson’s comments were “a despicable slur”.

But a Conservative Party source defended Anderson’s comments.

He told HuffPost UK: “Lee was simply making the point that the mayor, in his capacity as police and crime commissioner for London, has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we have seen in London recently.”

Those comments were then slammed by shadow health secretary Wes Streeting.

The row came as Liz Truss was condemned over her appearance alongside former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon at a right-wing conference in America.

The former PM claimed the Financial Times newspaper was “friends of the deep state” which had conspired to end her time in Downing Street after just 49 days.

At one point, Bannon referred to far-right activist Tommy Robinson as a “hero”, but Truss said nothing.

Sajid Javid, who served in several Tory cabinets alongside Truss, criticised her for not confronting Bannon.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow paymaster general, wrote to Sunak demanding he remove the Tory whip from both Truss and Anderson.

He said: “Sunak has a clear choice: show some backbone and withdraw the whip or be forever known as too weak to take them on.”

A spokesman for Truss did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost UK.

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Tory Backlash After ‘Shameful’ Post Editing Sadiq Khan Interview On Anti-Semitism

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The Conservative Party has faced a fierce backlash after sharing an edited clip of Sadiq Khan making a slip-up during a TV interview.

The Tories posted a doctored video of an interview with the Mayor of London to make it look as if he says Labour is an “anti-Semitic” party.

The Labour politician was addressing questions raised by his party for suspending two by-election candidates for anti-Israel comments.

Questioned by a Sky News presenter, Khan said: “As far as I’m concerned, that sort of language isn’t acceptable, and it certainly shouldn’t be acceptable in a party like mine, that is proud to be both anti-racist and anti-Semitic.” He quickly corrected himself, adding: “I beg your pardon, tackling anti-Semitism.”

On the Tory party’s official X account, the interview was shortened to make Khan look bad – prompting an immediate backlash.

Former Tory MP Nick De Bois said: “For the avoidance of doubt – this is a shameful tweet from Conservatives. The editing of the original clip is deceitful and this tweet should be taken down.”

A community note added to the original Tory tweet said: “This clip has been cut short. Sadiq Khan misspoke and immediately corrected himself to say ‘tackling anti-Semitism’.”

Mike Katz, national chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, replied to the Conservatives’ tweet, posting: “Shame on you Conservatives. Sadiq misspoke and instantly corrected himself.

“You cynically cut the video for a cheap political advantage. The Jewish community is tired of being used as a political football. Stop it.”

Rabbi David Mason, executive director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality, highlighted how figures released today by the Community Security Trust charity showed “a massive rise in real anti-Semitism affecting the Jewish community”.

In a reply to the Tory tweet, he added: “You use a clear misspeaking to turn our community and anti-Semitism into a political football.

“The mayor of London has looked to bring people together. Stop sowing division.”

This week, the party withdrew support for Azhar Ali, who is standing in Rochdale, after he said Israel deliberately allowed 1,400 people to be killed on its own soil on October 7.

The Mail on Sunday reported Ali said Israel did so in order to give the “green light” to invade of Gaza, when at the meeting of the Lancashire Labour Party.

Graham Jones, a former Labour MP, was “administratively suspended” from the party after audio emerged appearing to show he said “fucking Israel” at the same meeting, while also allegedly suggesting that British people who volunteer to fight with the Israeli Defence Forces should be “locked up”.

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Tory Minister Says Pro-Palestine March On Remembrance Day Should Be Stopped

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A pro-Palestine march planned for Remembrance Day is “inappropriate”, security minister Tom Tugendhat has said.

He has written to London mayor Sadiq Khan, Westminster Council and the Metropolitan Police setting out his concerns about the event, which is due to take place on Saturday, November 11.

That is also Armistice Day, which marks the end of fighting in the First World War. A two-minute silence will be held at 11am.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, Tugendhat said that the planned march was “a matter of great concern to me”.

He said: “I know that many of my fellow veterans will be looking forward to that day, not a day of joy but a day of grief. It’s a day when many of us remember those who aren’t standing with us, who aren’t there to lay a wreath, who aren’t there with their friends to have a beer afterwards and talk about the old days.

“It’s a moment when we remember those we lost and I think for the whole country, the Cenotaph is sacred ground and the idea that on a day like Remembrance Day you’d have a protest going past it, I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

However, organisers of the march have insisted they will not go past the Cenotaph, where politicians and veterans will lay poppy wreaths for Remembrance Sunday the following day.

Tugendhat said that in his letters, he had asked Sadiq Khan, Westminster Council and the Met to “look very carefully at the powers that they have and to consider what options they have available” with regard to the November 11 march.

He added: “Personally, I don’t think this is an appropriate time for a protest.”

HuffPost UK understands that only home secretary Suella Braverman has the power to ban the march.

Asked if the protest should be banned, Tugendhat said: “I think protest is incredibly important in a free society.

“I’m just saying the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday is a particularly sensitive time and a sensitive place and it’s a moment when the country comes together, and so I think there are moments where and places where that’s not appropriate.”

Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) is planning to bus protestors from Leicester to London to take part in the march calling for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

FOA spokesman Ismail Patel said: “We definitely will not be at the Cenotaph. We understand the sensitivity of the date.”

A Met Police spokesperson said the organisers of the November 11 march were considering different locations in London.

He said: “They have indicated they are planning a march on the Saturday, but that they are considering different locations given the sensitives around this date,” the spokesperson said.”

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Exclusive: Defeated Labour Candidate Launches Bitter Attack On Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ Expansion

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Labour’s defeated candidate in the Uxbridge by-election has launched a vicious attack on Sadiq Khan’s controversial expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

Danny Beales said the policy had “cut us off at the knees” and handed the seat to the Tories.

In a surprise appearance at Labour’s National Policy Forum (NPF) in Nottingham this morning, he declared: “ULEZ is bad policy. It must be rethought.”

His comments are a further sign of the bitter Labour civil war that has erupted since Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell defied the odds to win Uxbridge and South Ruislip by just 495 votes.

The result was a major boost for Rishi Sunak on the same night the Tories suffered seismic losses to the Lib Dems in Somerton and Frome and to Labour in Selby and Ainsty.

Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has insisted he will not scrap the ULEZ expansion, which takes place next month and will see drivers of cars that don’t meet strict environmental standards charged £12.50 a day.

But Beales told the NPF: “Our relentless focus on the cost of living hammering voters across the country should have been enough to win my home seat. But it wasn’t.

“Because – let me be frank – a single policy cut us off at the knees. This isn’t complicated. You cannot tell working people you are laser-focused on the cost of living, on the difficulties facing them, on making life easier and then also penalise them, simply for driving their car to work.

“ULEZ is bad policy. It must be rethought.”

He added: “There were people in Uxbridge desperate for change, sick of the Tories, complimentary about our changed party, about our leadership, about our plans.

“But a single policy – one that felt like a grotesque unfairness to many who might otherwise have voted for us – acted as a dead-weight, one that we were forced to trudge around with on our backs, all day, every day, from one door to another.”

Beales said Labour must use the NPF gathering to learn the lessons of the Uxbridge defeat and focus its policies on helping ordinary people currently struggling with the cost of living.

He said: “We can continue to drive our party back into the arms of working people, as we are doing under Keir’s leadership, by focusing entirely on their priorities, their needs and their desires.

“Or we can spend this weekend focused on the hobby horses, the ideological obsessions and – ultimately – the damaging policies that cost us dear in Uxbridge.”

Keir Starmer yesterday called on Khan to “reflect” on the part ULEZ played in Labour’s by-election defeat.

But the mayor vowed to press on with the controversial policy, saying clean air is a “human right, not a privilege”.

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Labour Blame Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ Scheme For Failing To Win Boris Johnson’s Old Seat

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The Labour mayor of London’s decision to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to cover the whole of the capital dominated the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.

Speaking shortly after the result was announced, shadow justice secretary Steve Reed suggested Khan should consider ditching the ULEZ expansion – which is due to kick in next month – in light of the result.

He told the PA news agency: “I think the winning Conservative candidate just said it, didn’t he? He said that if it wasn’t for ULEZ, he believes Labour would have won this by-election.

“Clearly, it did resonate with a lot of people. They didn’t like the fact that ULEZ was going to cost people more to drive around at a time when there’s a cost-of-living crisis going on. That’s exactly what [Labour candidate] Danny Beales was saying all the way through the campaign.

“But I think when the voters speak, any party that seeks to govern has to listen. So that’s what Labour will be doing after this.”

A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “If Uxbridge helps us junk more crap then good.”

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Sadiq Khan Accuses Tory Leadership Candidates Of ‘Ignoring’ Climate Change

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Sadiq Khan today accused the Tory leadership candidates of “ignoring” climate change as Britain sizzles in record temperatures.

The mayor of London said the country needed a “brave generation of politicians” in parliament, in an interview with HuffPost UK.

“This heatwave is directly linked with the consequences of climate change,” Khan said as the UK hit its hottest temperature on record of 40.2C at Heathrow.

“So rather than tiptoeing around this issue and ignoring it, as those running to be the Tory leader have done, we should be talking about it more with a sense of urgency.”

The criticism falls as the Tory leadership debate has focused on tax cuts and culture war issues, rather than the climate.

Cabinet minister Alok Sharma, who led last year’s landmark Cop26 UN climate summit, intervened in the Tory leadership race, suggesting to The Observer he might resign if the incoming PM fails to commit to a strong agenda on the climate crisis.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan with Rosamund adoo-kissi-debrah, CEO of the Ella Roberta Family Foundation.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan with Rosamund adoo-kissi-debrah, CEO of the Ella Roberta Family Foundation.

James Manning – PA Images via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Chris Skidmore has suggested Tory party members care little about hitting “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050 “because 90 per cent of them will be dead”.

Skidmore admitted a survey which put the climate emergency at the bottom of the list for the people who will choose the next prime minister is “rather depressing” in the Independent.

Leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has previously branded the 2050 net zero commitment “unilateral economic disarmament” and vowed to axe it if elected.

At a hustings event on Monday she appeared to reverse her view before performing another U-turn on TalkTV that evening suggesting there were “circumstances” she would delay it. The three other remaining leadership candidates have all backed net zero.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter Ella was nine years old when she suffered a fatal asthma attack in 2013 linked to severe air pollution, has also criticised Conservative leadership hopefuls for dismissing green issues.

Khan added: “I break down politicians into three areas: climate change deniers, climate change delayers and climate change doers.

“And this heatwave should make us all want to be climate change doers, rather than delayers or deniers.”

He added: “This heatwave, caused by climate change, should be a wake up call for all of us – including those running to be the leader of the Conservative Party.

“It’s heartbreaking, in my view, to see the Tories being in denial about this issue.

“I mean, just to think about one of the candidates talking about 2060, 2070, the other candidates being lukewarm at best about the issue of tackling climate change. That is not the sort of leadership we need.”

He added: “It was Conservative politicians in the 1950s during the Great Smog who made the brave decision to close down power stations in the centre of our cities – think of Battersea Power station, think of the Tate Modern, because then you could see the poison.

“The problem is you can’t see the invisible killer, but you can feel the heat.

“What we want to see is a brave generation of politicians in parliament now, tackling climate change and air quality.”

The mayor made the comments as he hosted a climate solutions summit in London’s City Hall.

A woman use portable fan as heatwave hits London, United Kingdom on July 18, 2022.
A woman use portable fan as heatwave hits London, United Kingdom on July 18, 2022.

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Transport for London released figures that show the expansion of Khan’s ultra-low emission zone appears to have reduced toxic air levels in the suburbs.

They found that roadside levels of nitrogen dioxide in central London were now 44 per cent lower than they would have been had the Ulez not been introduced.

However, the Evening Standard suggested the bulk of the benefits were attributable to the original central London zone which launched in April 2019.

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