‘None of hopefuls should be in Commons’ says London mayor
THE mayor of London says he would have spoiled his ballot paper if he was a constituent able to vote in yesterday’s by-election.
Sadiq Khan also said ‘none of the candidates putting themselves forward to me, should be in the House of Commons’.
Speaking on The News Agents podcast, he also addressed comments made about him by Ex-tory party chair Lee Anderson MP, who has refused to apologise despite having the whip removed.
Speaking to podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, Mr Khan said he believed the comments ‘are racist... anti-muslim, and... Islamophobic’, saying he believes Mr Anderson ‘is pouring petrol on the flames of anti-muslim hatred’.
Voters were due to go to the polls to elect a new MP for Rochdale
yesterday. Labour withdrew its support for Azhar Ali over comments made about Israel and Jewish people.
Asked how he would vote if he was a Rochdale resident in the upcoming by-election, Mr Khan told Emily and Jon: “I think firstly, because I believe in democracy, I believe in voting, the sacrifices that were made, I would go and vote, I may spoil my ballot paper.
“Because frankly speaking, none of the candidates putting themselves forward to me, should be in the House of Commons.
“And so, I would go to the ballot station, and I’d probably spoil my ballot paper.”
On whether he’d be more concerned to see George Galloway or Mr Ali enter the Houses of Commons, he added: “I’ve not seen the consequences of Azhar Ali but I’ve seen the consequences of Galloway what he did in East London and also in Bradford.
“Azhar Ali should not be in the House of Commons.
“I think they’re both unfit to be parliamentarians and that’s why I would spoil my ballot paper.”
Asked how he felt when he heard the recent remarks made about him by Lee Anderson, Mr Khan replied: “Both of you understand there are common tropes used to discriminate against a variety of minorities, whether it’s Jewish people, whether it’s women, whether it’s the LGBT plus community.
“They’re also tropes that are used against Muslims.
“And this is a very senior Conservative and up until very recently, the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and let me be quite clear, the words he said, are racist, they are anti-muslim and they are Islamophobic.
“And what I failed to understand is just like it’s, in my view, unacceptable for senior politicians to say things that are anti-semitic, just like it is unacceptable for senior politicians to say things that are homophobic or misogynistic, why is it acceptable for someone to use language that is clearly anti Muslim, Islamophobic and racist?”