Britain’s Ruling Party Defends Linking Muslim London Mayor To Extremism
- 8 years ago
Efforts by Britain’s ruling Conservative party to link the new Mayor of London to Muslim extremism during campaigning for the capital’s election were just part of the “rough and tumble” of politics, a senior minister said on Saturday.
As politicians from all sides lined up to condemn his party’s tactics in the mayoral race won by Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants and the first Muslim to hold the job, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon refused to apologise.
“In the rough and tumble of elections, you get stuff said, questions asked,” Fallon told the BBC when asked if he regretted describing Khan as a “Labour lackey” who speaks alongside extremists.
Khan, whose parents worked as a bus driver and a seamstress, defeated Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire financier, by a record margin to secure the biggest individual mandate in British political history.
As politicians from all sides lined up to condemn his party’s tactics in the mayoral race won by Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants and the first Muslim to hold the job, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon refused to apologise.
“In the rough and tumble of elections, you get stuff said, questions asked,” Fallon told the BBC when asked if he regretted describing Khan as a “Labour lackey” who speaks alongside extremists.
Khan, whose parents worked as a bus driver and a seamstress, defeated Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith, the son of a billionaire financier, by a record margin to secure the biggest individual mandate in British political history.