London mayor Sadiq Khan has urged the Conservatives need “a re-run of the 2016 mayoral contest”, in response to feedback about his relationship with the capital’s Jewish group.
Tory mayoral candidate Susan Corridor was criticised final week after she claimed through the Conservative Social gathering convention that Mr Khan “frightened” Jews in London.
Requested about her feedback throughout an occasion on the perimeter of the Labour Social gathering Convention, Mr Khan stated: “Notably within the context of the final 24 hours, I feel the concept of weaponising Jewish individuals is flawed and my concern is we could also be seeing from the Conservatives a re-run of the 2016 mayoral contest.
“Let me be fairly clear, there are Jewish individuals in London, Londoners, who’ve real issues and anxieties and aspirations and we ought to be addressing them.
If they’ve a marketing campaign once more based mostly on concern and division I can promise them hope will overcome concern
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London
“However utilizing them as a pawn to try to win votes, I feel the Conservatives ought to recognise that in London at the very least – I can’t communicate at this stage for the remainder of the nation – but when they’ve a marketing campaign once more based mostly on concern and division I can promise them hope will overcome concern and unity over division and we’re going to win.”
That contest, which resulted in Mr Khan being elected mayor for the primary time, noticed Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith criticised for accusing his Muslim rival of associating with extremists.
A 2021 inquiry into anti-Muslim sentiment within the Conservative Social gathering reported that Lord Goldsmith “accepts poor judgment in the way in which his marketing campaign was carried out however forcefully denies harbouring anti-Muslim sentiments or utilizing such sentiments for political benefit”.
Conservative enterprise minister Nusrat Ghani was a kind of who condemned Ms Corridor’s feedback, and explicitly talked about Lord Goldsmith.
She stated: “The language of concern and demeaning our political opponents will not be a Conservative worth that I recognise and we shouldn’t stoop to it.”
She added: “Have we not realized something from Zac Goldsmith’s related makes an attempt in his mayoral marketing campaign which led to abject failure?”
Ms Corridor’s feedback additionally drew criticism from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which stated there was “no concern current in any respect” in the neighborhood.
Ms Corridor defended her remarks on GB Information, saying the policing in London implies that “many Jewish individuals don’t really feel secure”.
