Muslim MP accuses government of ‘shameful silence’ over Trump’s attack on Sadiq Khan

The Muslim Council of Britain has said the government's silence on the issue is unacceptable for Muslim communities across the country.

The government is ‘failing to stand with minority communities’ and allowing ‘hatred and bigoted views to become legitimised’, a Labour MP has said.

Shadow minister of state for women and equalities, Naz Shah, made the remarks following what she calls the government’s shameful silence after Donald Trump took to Twitter to attack London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

He labelled Mr Khan a ‘national disgrace’ following further violence on the streets of the capital and said ‘London needs a new mayor ASAP.’

Two teenagers were murdered within minutes of each other in different parts of the capital on Friday, while a man was stabbed to death on Saturday afternoon.

Trump retweeted a post about the killings by Katie Hopkins, which called the capital ‘Stab-City’, alongside two screenshots of BBC News articles detailing the violence.

She added: ‘This is Khan’s Londonistan’.

The term Londonistan has been widely condemned for being a highly racialised term that was used against Sadiq Khan because of his Pakistani and Muslim heritage.

Ms Shah told Metro.co.uk: ‘If Donald Trump can endorse the far-right that use racist tropes to attack the Mayor of London and that does not warrant a response from our Prime Minister or those planning to become Prime Minister, then it sets a dangerous and worrying precedence.

‘Minority communities are directly impacted on when hatred and bigoted views are legitimised.

‘Those communities will be looking at who will stand up for them? So far, there is nothing but defeating silence from this Conservative Government.’

A Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson said: ‘Whatever political differences our government or the Conservative Party may have with Sadiq Khan, we would expect a clear and swift condemnation of Donald Trump’s consistent endorsement of British bigots.’

‘This particular tweet points heavily to Islamphobic tropes against our capital city and its Muslim mayor.

‘The last time Trump tweeted content from the fascist group British First, he rightly drew censure from our leaders including the Home Secretary.

‘Silence on the issue is unacceptable for Muslim communities across the country, and demonstrates an alarming tolerance of Islamophobia in our country.’