Where’s Sadiq? As crime rockets, mayor is ‘missing in action’

LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan was accused last night of being ‘missing in action’ as violent crime spiralled out of control in the capital.

As the city reeled from a horrific spate of knife and gun murders, the Labour politician faced mounting pressure about his apparent public absence.

Killings, many of them gang-related, have risen under the mayor’s watch. But his office has failed to issue a press release on the violence since March 20, when he announced money for anti-knife crime initiatives.

Shaun Bailey, a Tory London Assembly member, accused the mayor of failing to get a grip on the problem.

He said: ‘In a crisis like this you need and expect leaders to step up. The mayor however has been in hiding, only raising his head to tweet about Government cuts in a bid to shift the blame. Not even a press statement of reassurance or condolence. Despite overseeing the biggest spike in youth violence in living memory, Khan has sheltered himself from criticism.’

Last June, the mayor unveiled a £7million strategy to tackle the surge in stabbings, which included offering every school in London a hand-held ‘knife wand’ metal detector.

But MP and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, whose constituency is in Waltham Forest, east London, said Mr Khan should now be ‘stepping up to the plate’.

He added: ‘This problem requires real authority. This is a job for the mayor. What in heaven’s name has he been doing? He is missing in action.’

A spokesman for Mr Khan said he was unable to comment due to the ‘purdah’ period ahead of the upcoming council elections, when there are restrictions on the activities of local government officials.