Scotland Yard Sir Mark Rowley has hit back over Donald Trump’s comments about crime in London saying they are “politically motivated nonsense”.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark is angered by the US President’s bizarre claim the capital is so dangerous “people being stabbed in the ass”.
Trump also branded mayor Sir Sadiq Khan a “disaster” as he reignited their bitter feud in a GB News interview lwhere he went totally unchallenged. He launched a fresh attack on the mayor in an interview with Politico earlier this week.
Sir Mark told LBC Radio host Nick Ferrari there aren’t “no-go areas” in the city and it is “ridiculous” for anyone in America to suggest that Britain is violent given the high levels of crime in many US cities.
“This trend of trying to rubbish London, we need to fight back about it,” he said.
“There’s no no-go areas, that’s completely false.
“How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous.
“The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It’s lower than all their big cities.
“The murder rate in New York last time I looked is three or four times higher than London per capita.
“The homicide rate in London is lower than it is in Toronto, it’s lower than Paris, it’s lower than Brussels, it’s lower than Berlin.
“This is a safe city. I’m not going to pretend it’s perfect.
“This trend of trying to rubbish London, some of which is driven by politics, we who are proud Londoners, need to fight back about it.”
Sir Mark went on to describe Trump's comments about the capital as “complete nonsense”, but he stopped short of commenting on remarks bashing Sir Sadiq, explaining he’ll “leave the political sparring to the politicians”.
Last month, Trump told GB News host Bev Turner of Sir Sadiq: “He’s a terrible, terrible mayor.
“Look at the crime you have in London. My mother loved London. She loved that city. She would always talk about it. That was a different London than you have today.
“Today you have people being stabbed in the ass or worse.”
Blaming Sir Sadiq, he continued: “Your mayor is a disaster. I don’t even know him. If you put him there I wouldn’t even know who he was. I can tell you he’s a disaster. He’s a nasty person and he’s letting crime go.
“You have areas in London - and you have this in Paris too - where police don’t even want to go anywhere near those areas.
“You have sharia law where they don’t even obey the laws of your country or France or other countries and you have much worse conditions than even that.”
In a long running war of words, Sir Sadiq has called Trump racist, sexist and Islamophobic
Trump used an address to the United Nations in September to claim the city wants to “go to sharia law” as he said Europe was being “invaded” by “illegal aliens”.
He has repeatedly attacked Sir Sadiq since 2015, when the Labour politician condemned the then presidential hopeful’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US.
