Sadiq Khan has said he appears to be “living rent free inside President Trump’s head” after the 80-year-old US leader called him a “bad person” and a “horrible representative” – but the London mayor has more pressing concerns as the capital faces its first-ever heat plan, inspired by Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Without any prompting, Trump told reporters on Wednesday: “I don’t want to cause any problems, but your Mayor of London is grossly incompetent.” Responding on Thursday, Sir Sadiq – who has won three elections and been mayor for over a decade – told the Press Association: “I’m not sure why I’m living rent free inside President Trump’s head. I’m not quite clear why this man appears to have a crush on me. You know, all I would say is it could be because I’m the mayor of a progressive, multicultural, liberal, successful city.”
“Sadiq Khan hits back at Trump's attack while unveiling London's first heat plan inspired by Phoenix and Los Angeles.”
The long-running feud between the two dates back to 2015, when Sir Sadiq criticised Trump’s suggestion that Muslims should be banned from travelling to the US. In 2017 Trump misrepresented Khan’s comments about the London Bridge terror attack, and the same year Sir Sadiq called for a state visit to be cancelled, giving permission for a giant blimp depicting Trump as an angry baby to be flown in protests. By 2019 Trump wrote on Twitter: “He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me.” Last year he described the mayor as “a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”.
But amid the transatlantic sniping, Sir Sadiq unveiled a plan titled “Heat ready London” – the capital’s first strategy to cope with extreme heat, after a red weather warning for the current heatwave. “As infrastructure currently stands, London is not equipped to deal with frequent and extreme heat waves,” he told Metro. The plan is inspired by some of the US’s warmest cities: “Phoenix, for example, is a city in the USA that’s one of the hottest cities in the world. One of things they do is when it comes their roofs, they paint them a certain colour,” Sir Sadiq said. “Los Angeles has issues with water shortages we are looking at too.” The London Fire Commissioner, Jonathan Smith, has spoken to the Los Angeles Fire Department about using AI to predict where wildfires will occur.
The plan reveals that more than 1,300 schools, 60 hospitals and 350 care homes are at risk of overheating. Buildings will be retrofitted with air conditioning, with poorer areas prioritised. Sir Sadiq said: “It is not just an issue of the environment, but of social justice. In the 2022 heatwave, we saw 400 premature deaths, 4,000 going to A&E, extreme challenges to our public transport and big pressure on the fire service.” But to the disappointment of commuters, a fully air-conditioned London Underground network is still a long way off.
Despite the heat crisis, Sir Sadiq said he has no plans to follow Andy Burnham into Westminster, where Burnham was sworn in as Makerfield’s MP on Monday and is widely expected to become the next prime minister. “No, I’ve got the best job in politics. I’m looking forward to working with Andy Burnham as the new prime…” Khan said, trailing off.