Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has BACKED Donald Trump over a series of attacks on Sadiq Khan - despite them being branded racist.
The Foreign Secretary, speaking at hustings for journalists in Westminster today, said he agreed "150%" with the US President's "Londonistan" attack on London's mayor.
His bizarre comment comes despite three of his Tory rivals, Sajid Javid, Michael Gove and right-winger Dominic Raab, all slamming the President.
Home Secretary Mr Javid said the comments were "unbecoming" of the President of the United States. Environment Secretary Mr Gove said: "I think it is always a mistake to retweet anything Katie Hopkins tweets".
And Mr Raab said Trump's comment was not "helpful or constructive", adding: "I disagree with a lot of things that Sadiq Khan has said but I'm proud to have a Muslim Mayor of London and a Muslim Home Secretary."
It comes after the President stepped up his feud with the capital's first Muslim mayor over a series of stabbings on Saturday.
Trump retweeted a post by right-wing commentator Katie Hopkins which had called the city "Khan's Londonistan".
Despite the Tories slashing more than 20,000 police officers from Britain's streets since 2010, Trump claimed it was Labour's Mr Khan who should be replaced urgently.
The President tweeted: “LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse!”
He added: “He is a national disgrace who is destroying the City of London!”
Hopkins’ original post called the capital “Stab-City” and “Khan’s Londonistan” alongside two screenshots of online stories detailing the violence.
Ed Miliband yesterday branded the President a "racist bigot" while Jeremy Corbyn said: "Sadiq Khan is rightly supporting the police to do their job while Katie Hopkins spreads hateful and divisive rhetoric."
Yet Jeremy Hunt, who as Foreign Secretary is Britain's top diplomat, FAILED to condemn the vile language.
Mr Hunt had the phrase quoted back at him as he was asked: "What do you make of that kind of language being retweeted by the President of the United States?"
Mr Hunt said: “President Trump has his own style and I wouldn’t use those words myself.
“But the sentiment is enormous disappointment that we have a Mayor of London who has completely failed to tackle knife crime and spent more time on politics than the actual business of making Londoners safer.
“And in that, I 150% agree with the President.”
Mr Hunt's Tory rival Sajid Javid - who is also from a Muslim background - criticised the President.
He told the same hustings: "I think President Trump should stick to domestic policies and I think it is unbecoming of a leader of such a great state to keep trying to interfere in other countries' domestic policies."
He added: "The President is right to be concerned about serious violence.
"But he should be concerned about the serious violence in his own country where it is more than 10 times higher than it is in the UK."
Also asked about Trump's tweet, Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart said "I feel very strongly that you should be firm" with world leaders, but that discussions of this kind should happen "privately".
Mr Hunt also used today's hustings as an opportunity to launch a blistering attack on Commons Speaker John Bercow.
He said Mr Bercow would have a “mixed record” and also be remembered as a “reforming” Speaker of the Commons.
But he declared: “I profoundly disagree with the way he has used his office to further a particular political agenda.
“I think the Speaker has to be impartial and that means recognising the government has a voice in Parliament, not just the opposition.”
Yet - with Boris Johnson the 1/7-odds favourite to be Prime Minister - he cynically REFUSED to attack the frontrunner.
He even shrugged "everyone makes mistakes" when asked about Boris Johnson's comments about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The then-Foreign Secretary is accused of lengthening the British mum's jail term in Iran after he incorrectly told MPs she had been training journalists.
Yet Mr Hunt said: "I'm not going to comment on that because everyone makes mistakes. I mean that.
"Everyone makes mistakes as Foreign Secretary.
"You are constantly making very finely balanced judgements and it is possible to get things wrong and I'm sure I'll get things wrong in the future as well."
Mr Hunt was blasted following his comments by the Muslim Council of Britain.
A spokesman said: "For Downing Street to refuse to comment and our Foreign Secretary and potentially future Prime Minister to agree with the 'sentiment' of this known Islamophobe without condemning the clear bigoted intent behind it, is shocking.
"It is still further proof that Islamophobia is given a free pass at the highest echelons of the Conservative Party."
The comments came amid a wide range of questions to Jeremy Hunt at today's Westminster lobby hustings.
He warned not even Boris Johnson - who's tipped to win the contest - could prevent the "total and utter devastation" of the Tories.
Mr Hunt said: "Boris has more name recognition than me at the moment but... if we have a general election before we have left the European Union no amount of campaigning brilliance will avoid total and utter devastation for the Conservative Party."
Quizzed on Brexit, he said he would still choose No Deal Brexit if needed - as the "democratic risks" of failing to leave the EU would be "greater than no-deal".
Speaking at the hustings, the Tory leadership hopeful said: "If I was given a binary choice between no Brexit and no-deal, and the only way to leave the EU was through a no-deal Brexit, then I would take that choice because I think the democratic risks of no Brexit ultimately are far greater than the economic risks of no-deal."
Despite this he said he would go back to Brussels to try and renegotiate the Brexit deal.
“I believe it is possible to renegotiate this deal," he said.
And he claimed if he came "with new ideas, a new PM, a fresh approach", the EU would be willing to be flexible.
He also said he did not regret likening the EU to the USSR in a speech at the Tory Party conference last year.
He said: "I think it showed I'm prepared to say things to friends they might not like and able to continue a relationship even saying those uncomfortable things."
On a second referendum, Mr Hunt said he would vote Leave, adding: "Like thousands, millions of people who voted Remain, I just want to get on and leave the European Union."
Elsewhere Mr Hunt said he did believe in God.
And he refused to say whether the rollout of Universal Credit has pushed people to food banks.
He said: "I think Universal Credit is the right way forward.
"And if you look in the round as to what has happened since 2010 with the welfare reforms, they're part of the reason why we have been able to create 1,000 jobs every single day - the lowest unemployment since 1974.
"They're also one of the reasons why overall income inequality has gone down in that period."
He added: "You've always got to be compassionate and humane when you look at the way these reforms are being rolled out.
"I'd always be willing to look at that, to review the way Universal Credit is being rolled out to make sure we do it in the fairest possible way. But the principle is right."
