London Mayor Sadiq Khan has branded Donald Trump a "racist" and said the President-elect singled him out because of his skin colour.
Mr Khan - who Trump repeatedly attacked during his first term in the White House - told a podcast that the Republican's policies were “sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist”. He said that his Islamic faith and skin colour were the reason Trump decided to "come for me".
Speaking to the High Performance podcast before last week's Presidential Election, the London Mayor said: “It’s personal, let’s be frank. If I wasn’t this colour skin, if I wasn’t a practising Muslim, he wouldn’t have come for me.
“He wasn’t coming for me because I’m five foot six. He’s coming for me for – let’s be frank – my ethnicity and my religion, so it’s incredibly personal to me.”
Nevertheless he said he would be happy to "show him around" the capital if Trump visits the UK. There has long been bad blood between the Labour London Mayor and Trump. Mr Khan criticised his attitudes toward Muslims and called for his visit to the UK to be cancelled.
The then-US President - who also made misleading claims about Mr Khan's response to the London Bridge terror attack - described the Mayor as “a stone cold loser” and “very dumb”.
Talking about the impact that had, Mr Khan said: “It affects me, my family. What worries me though, it’s not about me and my family – it’s about the fact that he’s the leader of the free world. This is the president of the USA, a country we all adore, love, we love Americans, we love American culture. But also America’s like a lighthouse. They can be somebody that’s a source of good, ripples of hope and love, but also ripples of hate.
“So you know the fact that I was speaking out against somebody whose policies were sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, wasn’t because I wanted to come to his attention, [it was] because I have a responsibility to speak out if I think something’s affecting not just Londoners, but affecting all of us.
“It’s not great. Would I do it again? Absolutely, because you’ve got to speak the truth with power, and I’ve got a platform in the sense of explaining that actually the policies of America have an impact on us, positive and negative.”
In a statement after last week's election, Mr Khan said many around the world will be left feeling "fearful". Tens of thousands turned out to protest in London on Trump's last official visit to the UK, with a huge blimp depicting him as a giant baby flown above the capital.
The 78-year-old is likely to face similar scenes next time he comes. Mr Khan said: "I know that many Londoners will be anxious about the outcome of the US presidential election.
"Many will be fearful about what it will mean for democracy and for women's rights, or how the result impacts the situation in the Middle East or the fate of Ukraine. Others will be worried about the future of Nato or tackling the climate crisis."