Sadiq Khan's feud with Donald Trump escalated again today as he branded the US President 'racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic'.
Sir Sadiq ramped up the rhetoric after Mr Trump attempted to humiliate him during a speech at the United Nations - claiming he is a 'terrible mayor' and immigration has left the capital at risk of 'Sharia law'.
The brutal exchanges are the latest eruption in tensions between the two men, which go back a decade.
They have clashed repeatedly over crime in London and immigration, with Mr Trump boasting that he banned the mayor from attending his state visit banquet last week.
Sir Sadiq told Sky News: 'I think people who are wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, progressive, successful city that means I appear to be living rent free inside Donald Trump's head.'
Asked whether Mr Trump's comments were Islamophobic, he said: 'Listen, when people say things, when people act in a certain way, when people behave in a certain way, you've got to believe them.'
Sir Sadiq added: 'I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic and he is Islamophobic.'
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan speaks to Sky News today about Donald Trump's comments
Sir Sadiq was also asked whether he was concerned that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was trying to 'befriend' Mr Trump amid last week's US state visit.
But the Mayor said: 'I've seen the benefits of Americans coming to London, I've seen the benefits of people recognising what a great city we are. It's for others to explain their views on President Trump.'
It comes after the President claimed yesterday in an address to the UN General Assembly that the UN was 'funding an assault on Western countries and their borders'.
Speaking in New York City, Mr Trump said: 'Europe is in serious trouble. They have been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody's ever seen before.
'I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor, and it's been changed, it's been so changed. Now they want to go to Sharia law. But you are in a different country, you can't do that.
'Both the immigration and their suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe if something isn't done immediately. This cannot be sustained.'
Sir Sadiq's allies hit back immediately, telling the Daily Mail: 'We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response.
'London is the greatest city in the world, safer than major US cities, and we're delighted to welcome the record number of US citizens moving here.'
And the mayor jibed today: 'You look at a number of different criteria. We're often the number one city in the globe when it comes to culture, when it comes to foreign direct investment, when it comes to sports and when it comes to the ability for people to fulfil their potential,' he said.
'I'm very proud that we are the greatest city in the world. Long may that continue.'
The Mayor's office also pointed to statistics showing the homicide rate in the US is 68 per 1 million population, compared to the London rate of 9.8 per 1 million population.
Sharia law is the Islamic religious law regulating public and private life – and while Sharia councils do exist in England, they have no legal jurisdiction.
Today, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden dismissed the President's attack on the Mayor and said Mr Trump had had 'a beef' with Sir Sadiq for years.
He told BBC Breakfast: 'As regards the United Kingdom, on the comments on London, look, I just think it's a misreading of our great capital city.
'This is a big asset to the United Kingdom. It's known all over the world, it's a big engine of our economy, of creativity.'
Speaking to GB News from Crystal Palace FC's stadium in South London, he said: 'We have British law here at Selhurst Park this morning, no other kind of law, and that's what applies in our capital city and throughout our country.'
Referring to the President's long-running dispute with Sir Sadiq, he told Times Radio: 'I think the two of them have had a beef for some years.'
Mr Trump's second state visit to the UK included no public-facing engagements in London, with events with the King in Windsor and the Prime Minister in Chequers rather than Downing Street.
Donald Trump addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York City yesterday
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Mr Trump was right to say that Sharia law is 'an issue in London'.
Speaking during an LBC phone-in, he said: 'Never take what he says literally, ever on anything, but always take everything he says seriously.'
But he said Mr Trump 'has a point', adding: 'So is he right to say that Sharia is an issue in London? Yes. Is it an overwhelming issue at this stage? No. Has the Mayor of London directly linked himself to it? No.
'I think what Trump was aiming at with his big pitch that the West (is) going to hell is it's in danger of losing its culture, its heritage, its identity.
'Look at Stockholm. Look at parts of Germany. Look at what the mass importation of people who come from very different cultures has done to those cities.'
Mr Trump and Sir Sadiq have a long-running feud which escalated last week when the President described the Mayor as 'among the worst mayors in the world'.
The President claimed Sir Sadiq - London's first Muslim mayor - had wanted to be part of his UK state visit last week, but Mr Trump said he 'asked that he not be there'.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said of Mr Trump on LBC today: 'Never take what he says literally, ever on anything, but always take everything he says seriously'
However Sir Sadiq then hit back, saying he was 'indifferent' to Mr Trump and had 'more important things to worry about'.
The Labour Mayor accused the American leader of encouraging divisive far-right politics around the world as he landed in Britain last Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday after his state visit concluded, Mr Trump said: 'I didn't want him there, I asked that he not be there.
'I think the mayor of London Khan is among the worst mayors in the world, and we have some bad ones. If you look at Chicago, but I think he's the equivalent of the mayor of Chicago.
'I think he's done a terrible job. Crime in London is through the roof. The mayor of London Khan, mayor Khan has done a terrible job.
'And on immigration, he's a disaster. I asked that he not be there. He wanted to be there, as I understand, I didn't want him.'
Sir Sadiq is understood to have made it clear weeks ago that he did not seek or expect an invite to events held for the contentious state visit.
Asked to respond to Mr Trump's claim regarding the state visit, the Mayor said on Sunday: 'I've not really given it much thought. I am indifferent to President Trump. I literally (have) more important things to worry about.'
Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during the President's state visit last week
The two men's spat dates back to at least 2015, when the Labour politician condemned the then presidential hopeful's suggestion that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US.
The row intensified when the president criticised the mayor's response to the London Bridge terror attack.
And in 2018 Sir Sadiq's office gave permission for an inflatable depicting Mr Trump as a baby to fly in Parliament Square as the Republican visited the UK.
During his first official state visit, Mr Trump tweeted that Mr Khan 'has done a terrible job as Mayor of London' and was 'a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me'.
As Mr Trump was sworn into the White House for a second term, Sir Sadiq warned of a 'resurgent fascism'.
