The Mayor is wrong to frame Muslims as the lowest of the social hierarchy, says the leader of the London Conservatives
Lord Khan’s sit-down interview with the Telegraph made me roll my eyes so badly I nearly strained them.
The doublespeak that this man operates with is beyond impressive, and I just can’t keep my mouth shut any longer about the nonsense he spouts.
Even from the beginning of his interview, he cannot help but lie, starting off with the decision to move City Hall from the iconic purpose-built offices on London’s Southbank, out to the docklands in Newham.
Apparently the idea, Khan says, was to stimulate some interest in the area - and apparently “it’s working”.
Presumably that is why there has had to be a second round of Mayoral announcements trying to drum up investment into the area, which remains largely unchanged since Sadiq Khan dropped City Hall there.
Never mind that the relocation has made it challenging for the public and press to reach our elusive Mayor.
He goes on to say crime is falling - it isn’t - and that ULEZ has made London’s air cleaner - it hasn’t - all without an inch of self-reflection.
In reality, he is overseeing a crime wave amid police cuts and front counter closures.
TfL’s own investigation into ULEZ plots the decline of pollutants in London on a graph - but you can’t even visibly plot when ULEZ began, because the rate of decrease hasn’t changed.
When crime and pollution in this city fall, it is because of the work that people were already doing, but which the Mayor sees fit to take credit for.
But what I did find interesting was the Mayor’s outlook on our society, chiefly that he thinks that Muslims are at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
I’m disappointed by that framing, because now more so than ever, society is less of a hierarchy at all: we have been building a country where hard work and taking opportunities build success.
The idea that there must be some hierarchy of oppression just frames entire groups of people as victims before they’ve even had a chance to try to succeed, and that’s wrong.
The Telegraph was right, however, to describe Khan as having "a gift for dodging".
Yes: dodging questions, meetings, responsibility, apologies, and transparency.
He may have his peerage, but if he wants an Olympic medal to boot, I’m sure there’s still time to enter him for the 500m Ducking-and-Diving.
The Mayor prefers to talk to flattering journalists, but he best remember that when we return in September for question time, I’m waiting to put to him the difficult questions that Londoners want answers to.
