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28th July 2025
04:28pm BST
US President Donald Trump launched into a series of personal criticisms of London mayor Sadiq Khan during a meeting with Keir Starmer in Scotland today.
When the 79-year-old Commander-in-Chief was asked by a reporter if he would consider visiting London next time he travels to the UK, Trump said: “I’m not a fan of your mayor.”
“I think he’s done a terrible job … a nasty person. I think he’s done a terrible job. But I would certainly visit London, yeah.”
The MAGA leader is currently in Scotland on a four-day private trip to South Ayrshire, where he is mainly expected to spend time playing golf.
During Starmer’s visit to the White House in February, the British Prime Minster presented Trump with an invitation to enjoy an unprecedented second state visit in the UK, set to take place this September.
This context — as well as the fact that Starmer and three-term mayor Sadiq Khan are longtime Labour allies — made things very awkward for Starmer as he sat next to his American counterpart.
The Prime Minister responded: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”
Trump’s tirade towards Khan is far from the first interaction that the two politicians have had over the past decade.
Ahead of his first state visit to the UK as president in 2019, Trump called Khan a “stone cold loser” while Khan had earlier accused Trump of “using the same divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century to garner support.”
