May says Trump was 'wrong' to criticise London Mayor Sadiq Khan after attack

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May had earlier dodged repeated questioning about US President Donald Trump's tweets.

File images of Theresa May and Donald Trump

File images of Theresa May and Donald Trump Source: AAP

British Prime Minister Theresa May has said her US counterpart's tweet about London Mayor Sadiq Khan immediately after last weekend's terror attack was "wrong".

"What Donald Trump has said about the mayor of London is wrong," she told Sky News.

"We have worked with Sadiq Khan in responding to this attack. He has been at the two Cobra meetings I have chaired."


The criticism came two days after Trump tweeted criticism of the Muslim mayor, who had told Londoners not to be alarmed by an increased police presence on London streets following the attack.
After copping criticism from both sides of the Atlantic for a political attack on a fellow leader in the aftermath of a terror attack, President Trump only doubled down.

On Monday, he tweeted that Mr Khan's response was a "pathetic excuse" from a man who "had to think fast on his 'no reason to be alarmed' statement."

"MSM [mainstream media] working hard to sell it!" President Trump tweeted.
A spokesperson for Mr Khan said the president had deliberately taken the comments out of context.

Theresa May had earlier dodged repeated questioning about President Trump's tweets, declining to criticise the president and instead opting to praise Mr Khan and their close working relationship following the attacks.

In her interview with Sky on Tuesday, the prime minister asserted she had been "very clear” on what she thought about Presidents Trump's tweets.
The fallout from the president's criticism has sparked calls for the UK to retract an invitation to the American leader to visit.

"I don't think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for," Mr Khan told Channel 4 News, reiterating a position he held before the president's most recent tweets.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, made a similar call on Monday, saying Trump was insulting Britain's values "at a time of introspection and mourning".

But the government is seeking to preserve its relationship with the United States, rejecting the calls to cancel the trip.

"The invitation has been issued and accepted and I see no reason to change that," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told BBC Radio on Tuesday.

"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," he said.

No date has been set for the visit.

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3 min read
Published 7 June 2017 10:25am
Updated 7 June 2017 12:11pm
By Ben Winsor


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