'Rattled' Sadiq Khan challenged over his 'Trumpian' attack on Robert Jenrick after London mayor brands top Tory 'Mr Ozempic' in Tube fare-dodging row
A 'rattled' Sir Sadiq Khan was challenged over his 'Trumpian' attack on top Tory Robert Jenrick today amid a deepening feud between the two politicians.
The London mayor faced questions over his decision to take a personal swipe at Mr Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, by branding him 'Mr Ozempic'.
His outburst came after Mr Jenrick - who once used the weight-loss drug - last week used social media to highlight the issue of fare-dodging on the London Underground.
Footage shared by the ex-Cabinet minister showed him confronting those who forced their way through ticket barriers at Stratford station in the east of the capital.
Responding to Mr Jenrick's video, Sir Sadiq took a dig at Mr Jenrick's past battle with his weight by claiming it was 'an example of the chutzpah of Mr Ozempic'.
This saw the London mayor, a fierce critic of Donald Trump, accused of aping the US President by resorting to name-calling when being quizzed about his record.
An ally of Mr Jenrick said the outburst showed how Sir Sadiq had been 'so rattled' by Mr Jenrick's campaign, adding: 'Anti-Trump Sadiq has gone full Trumpian.'
In 2019, during Mr Trump's first spell in the White House, the London mayor compared the US President's name-calling to the actions of 'an 11-year-old' and said it was 'beneath me'.
Speaking to Times Radio at the SXSW festival in London on Monday, Sir Sadiq admitted that fare evasion 'is an issue' on the Tube.
'It's an issue for London, has been for some time,' added the London mayor, who oversees Transport for London.
'That's one of the reasons why we've invested hugely in terms of not just enforcement officers, not just in terms of body-worn videos, not just in terms of CCTV, but invested in the police as well.
'What I find ironic, and it's an example of the chutzpah of Mr Ozempic, is that he was in government when the government cut more than a billion pounds from their police budget.
'He was in government when the government removed Transport for London's operating grant, and now he's criticising the consequences of the cuts in policing and TfL made by his government.
'Where was he in 2010, 2024 when those cuts were being made in our policing? Where was he in 2015 when the government cut their operating grant to TfL?'
Asked whether he was copying Mr Trump by resorting to name-calling, Sir Sadiq replied: 'Look, you asked me a question, I gave you an answer.'
Last summer, during his unsuccessful bid to be Tory leader, Mr Jenrick revealed how he took Ozempic 'for a short period of time' in a bid to shed the pounds.
He spoke of how he lost four stone in 12 months after realising he was 'overweight'.
Mr Jenrick said Ozempic had been 'helpful' but he 'didn't particularly enjoy it' and he had since 'lost weight in the normal way by eating less... doing some exercise'.
In April, the Tory politician ran the London Marathon in aid of a Armed Forces charity.
In June 2019, as Mr Trump began a state visit to the UK, Sir Sadiq responded to the US President branding him a 'stone-cold loser' on social media.
'This is the sort of behaviour I would expect from an 11-year-old,' the London mayor told CNN.
'But it's for him to decide how he behaves. It's not for me to respond in a like manner. I think it's beneath me to do childish tweets and name-calling.'
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