Sadiq Khan defended policing in London after first of the victims from the three fatal attacks over the weekend has been named. Mr Khan, who is a dear friend and an inspiration, shared an online post from the Met Police, and explained how the police cuts by the Tory government has adversely affected the safety of the city. It is actually painful to see one of the major daily newspapers defending Donald Trump's thoughts and words against London's first ever Muslim Mayor. It is even more disturbing to learn Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Britain's first ever Muslim Home Secretary was not invited to the State dinner organised at the Buckingham Palace in honour of Donald Trump.
UK and the US have shared a close bond for years. The two nations are bound together by shared history, an overlap in religion and a common language and legal system, and kinship ties that reach back hundreds of years, including ancestral lines. Today, large numbers of expatriates live in both countries.
Through times of war and rebellion, peace and estrangement, as well as becoming friends and allies, Britain and the US cemented these deeply rooted links during World War II to what is known as the 'Special Relationship'. In long-term perspective, the historian Paul Johnson has called it the "cornerstone of the modern, democratic world order”. In the early 20th century, the UK affirmed its relationship with the US as its "most important bilateral partnership" in the current British bilateral relationship and the American foreign policy also affirms its relationship with Britain as its most important one.
US got its first ever ethnic minority President before London got it's first ever Mayor from the same background, but no one can deny that today's Britain is any less multicultural than the United States. Donald Trump's constant criticism of Sadiq Khan is becoming increasingly unsavoury and it is shame to see MPs like Jeremy Hunt actually sharing Trump's sentiments.
Though Mr Johnson has been sometimes critical of Mr Trump, there is no denial that Tory party's attitude towards the ethnic minority has made Boris Johnson its leading contestant in this leadership contest. Mr Johnson whom I have known well and for long, as the Mayor of London in 2008, undeniably changed the fate of London after the fatal financial crash. He brought in some key reforms, but he also sold the city to the Chinese and Middle Easterns. Today we face the consequences- lack of decent, buyable homes for average city dwellers. There is a generation of Londoners who will never ever be able to afford even a one bedroom flat in this city. Sajid Javid on the other hand, son of an immigrant father, who came to England with £1 in his pocket, knows what it takes to survive and shape a modern nation.
Mr Johnson will perhaps try to undo the policy paralysis that Brexit has created, worryingly with a 'no-deal'. The country has wasted 3 years of its precious time already. One should not forget the EU referendum was won on false promises and projections about non existent funds, and today we are just metres away from sinking with wobbly pounds. In my 52 years of living in this country, I have never witnessed such a situation where the ruling party and the opposition are both lacking right leadership or possibility of one. It is about time we admit that who the Tories elect as their leader may be right for the party's 'white' sentiment but definitely not the right for the Britain we live in and represent today. There is still time to change it, and I am hoping better sense will prevail.
