George Galloway claims Labour should dump Sadiq Khan over aide’s homophobic tweets
Outspoken politician George Galloway has called for Labour to sack Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan, after it emerged an aide to the MP had sent homophobic tweets.
The Labour candidate for Mayor of London suspended his junior aide Shueb Salar, after it had emerged he sent openly homophobic and sexist messages on the social network in 2012.
Mr Salar first started working for the MP in 2014, but a newspaper this week revealed he sent the tweets ranting about “faggots” and “hoes” two years before.
The scandal has damaged Mr Khan’s campaign – and outspoken Respect candidate George Galloway has called for the candidate to be deselected.
He told ITV: “Either he knew the character of this man, in which case he’s too wicked to be the Mayor of London or he didn’t know in which case he’s too stupid to be the Mayor of London.
“They have to get rid of Khan and whoever they put up I’ll support.
“That’s quite an offer at this stage after a very long and quite expensive mayoral campaign I’m ready to stand down if Labour will put up a decent Labour candidate.”
Labour has stood by the MP, saying: “Sadiq acted immediately to suspend Shueb Salar as soon as he was made aware of these serious issues over the weekend.
“Shueb Salar has now resigned from his role as a junior member of Sadiq’s parliamentary staff.”
Mr Khan has endured a hard time in the press – recently responding to a string of attacks attempting to link him to Muslim extremists – by citing his record on LGBT equality.
When questions were raised about his alleged ‘links’ to hardline Muslims, the Labour politician noted his own record on LGBT equality was frequently attacked by such people.
He said: “This gentleman [former Imam Suliman Gani] was very unhappy I voted for same-sex marriage.
“I’m not sure what these suggestions are. Let’s be quite clear – I’m the only candidate with a plan to address the issue of extremism and radicalisation.
“I’m also somebody who feels very passionately that it’s possible to be a Londoner and to be of Islamic faith.
“I feel strongly it’s important to celebrate the diversity of London.”
