London attack: Donald Trump ramps up criticism of Mayor Sadiq Khan

The President has once again taken aim at the Mayor of London.

President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his extraordinary criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan in the wake of the terrorist attack on Saturday night.

Trump tweeted in a series of ill-tempered comments on Sunday morning: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says ‘no reason to be alarmed’”.

That appears to be in response to Mr Khan’s comments that Londoners shouldn’t be alarmed by the increased presence of armed police on the streets, a standard reassurance during the deployment of armed officers.

After a spokesman for the Mayor said that he wouldn’t respond to the comments o thee President, a number of news outlets ran articles critical of the Trump.

This appeared to have rankled the notoriously thin skinned President, who added to his criticism this afternoon.

He tweeted: “Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement. MSM (mainstream media) is working hard to sell it!”

Theresa May, in between the two hypercritical statements by Trump, had sought to defend Mr Khan, whom she said was doing a ‘good job’.

The Prime Minister did, however, decline to comment directly on the attack by Trump, nor did she criticise the President.

Trump and the Mayor have clashed before, when Mr Khan said that as a Muslim he didn’t want to be ‘the exception’ to the President’s travel ban.

Trump has also lavished praise on controversial broadcaster Katie Hopkins, who has criticised Mr Khan’s approach to terrorism in London.

The ex-LBC radio host has appeared on the Fox News channel in the wake of the attack on Saturday night, on a programme that Trump is known to watch religiously.