Emily Thornberry: I will always stand up for my friend Sadiq Khan against Trump

‘I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it’s been changed, it’s been so changed. 

‘Now they want to go to Sharia Law. But you are in a different country, you can’t do that.’

When I heard these words from US President Donald Trump, using the bully pulpit of the UN to attack my friend Sadiq Khan, I was taken back to the mayoral campaign of 2016. 

Nearly a decade on, it is easy to forget how racist and Islamophobic some of the pervasive rhetoric was in that campaign – and Trump’s rant brought memories flooding back. 

The Conservatives, led by their candidate Zac (now Lord) Goldsmith, implied that Khan was dangerous and linked to extremists. 

Even then Prime Minister, David Cameron, accused Sadiq of being close to figures who backed the Islamic State. 

The Conservatives never mentioned his religion, but everybody could hear the dog whistles, and even then-Tory Muslim peer Sayeeda Warsi said the campaign against Sadiq was part of a ‘f*** the Muslims’ approach 

This was coming from the party of government. It was not their finest hour. 

The campaign provoked a brilliant backlash from my brilliant city. London stood up and handed Sadiq an overwhelming 57% of the vote; 1.3 million of us voted to make him the first directly elected Muslim mayor of a Western city.

I have been the MP for Islington South and Finsbury in London for over 20 years. In that time, I have rarely felt greater pride in my city than when we elected Sadiq Khan.

On polling day, I remember people working in or visiting my constituency who had clearly never voted before asking me how to vote for Sadiq. 

Just like me, they were motivated to prove that the bigoted attacks were not who we were as Londoners. 

Since 2016, even as abuse on all sides has continued, Sadiq has proved himself to be what his friends and colleagues always knew him to be: a mayor committed to equality with a strong social conscience.

I have marched alongside him for LGBTQ+ pride, for International Women’s Day, and taken a stand with him on transgender rights – even when others in the Labour movement are reluctant. 

Inclusion and equality are at the heart of what he does. He wants to make London the best city for his daughters to grow up in. 

Sadly, the overwhelming mandates that London handed Sadiq in 2016, 2021, and again in 2024 did not put an end to the abuse. 

It surfaced again, in particular ahead of last year’s mayoral election, in my view tacitly encouraged by the Conservatives’ selection of a candidate who had previously retweeted a post describing Sadiq as mayor of ‘Londonistan’.

Now, this abuse has surfaced from the biggest bully in the world, the President of the United States.

Donald Trump’s rambling speech at the UN was just the latest in a long line of abuse Sadiq has dealt with, but the racist lie about Sharia Law in particular is damaging. 

I do not know whether the President, or those who briefed him, truly believe it. 

But I have been repeatedly shocked when – in my travels as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee – I have met foreign politicians who sincerely believe accusations like this. 

If anything, this view has become more widespread of late, thanks to misinformation spread by far-right actors online, including the President and his allies. 

When I tweeted in support of Sadiq yesterday, more than 3,000 people responded. Almost every single response contained Islamophobia too vile to repeat in print.

It would be easy to dismiss them all as trolls or bots, but not all were. They are evidence of Islamophobia that is alive and well.

I am proud that London has, again and again, stood up to that hatred in its support for Sadiq, even if it comes from the most powerful person in the world.  

Now, as so often before, we must say: ‘this is not who we are.’

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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