Sadiq Khan is to launch a major fightback against what he believes are Donald Trump-inspired attacks on London by the Tories and Reform, HuffPost UK has learned.
The Labour mayor thinks the capital “is increasingly being put on the front line of the nation’s culture wars”, according to his allies.
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick accused Khan of “driving a proud city into the ground” in May when he highlighted the issue of fare-dodgers on the London underground.
Reform leader Nigel Farage has also highlighted crime in London as he vows his party would “take back control of our streets” if they win power at the next election.
Their posts are then shared millions of times by right-wing accounts on X.
Sources close to Khan believe there are clear parallels between the tactics being used by the Tories and Reform and Donald Trump’s attacks on Democrat-run cities in America.
Earlier this week, the US president announced he was sending the National Guard into Washington DC to crack down on crime, just weeks after pulling a similar stunt in Los Angeles.
A source close to Khan told HuffPost UK: “London is the UK’s powerhouse, from our economic strength to our cultural industries, yet both the Tories and Reform have a deliberate strategy of talking down our capital city. This is unpatriotic and self-defeating.
“In tactics being copied from Donald Trump in the US, London is increasingly being put on the front line of the nation’s culture wars.
“Any posts denigrating London are also given rocket boosters by the algorithms on X, which just encourage right-wing politicians and commentators to talk down our capital city even further.”
It is understood Khan’s team plan to take the fight to his right-wing critics in the weeks ahead by directly challenging their claims on social media.
One post on Monday showing a fall in knife crime, burglary, robbery and theft in London has been viewed nearly 3 million times.
The source said: “We’re pushing back and putting the facts out there.
“Whether on the reductions in violent crime, London’s cleaner and healthier streets or promoting the fantastic summer we’re having for music events and sport, we’re being more robust in tackling the misleading, anti-London narrative being propagated.”