Khan row over white family ‘not real Londoners’

SADIQ Khan has been plunged into a row after his official website published a photo of a young white family with the words: ‘Doesn’t represent real Londoners’.

The Labour London Mayor faced calls to apologise after it appeared in an official guide on how to portray the ‘brand’ of the Mayor and the Greater London Authority.

Last night, Mr Khan was forced to disown the caption for the picture, which shows a couple and their two children walking along the Thames, with Parliament in the background.

The Mayor’s spokesman said: ‘The photo caption was added by a staff member in error, and doesn’t reflect the view of the Mayor or the Greater London Authority.’

She added that the content was being ‘reviewed to ensure language and guidance is appropriate’.

The guide – entitled Look Book: Mayor of London Brand Guidelines – was later taken down from the official london.gov website.

Susan Hall, Tory candidate for next year’s London mayoral election, called on Mr Khan to issue an apology.

She said: ‘All Londoners are real Londoners, no matter their ethnicity, and Sadiq Khan needs to stop these desperate, politically motivated attempts to divide people.’

She also attacked Mr Khan for the amount of space devoted in the brand guidelines to how he should be pictured. A section goes into detail on the ‘best images of the Mayor’, including more than 20 pictures of Mr Khan with the advice that ‘he should be shown interacting in real and relatable environments’.

It also warns: ‘When you photograph the Mayor, make sure his staff and any known/political figures are out of the shot.’