Sadiq Khan’s “terrible record” should be the focus of Tory attacks rather than making “wrong” claims about him, Mark Harper said as he responded to the Lee Anderson row.
Mr Anderson, the former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, lost the Tory whip after failing to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of the Mayor of London.
That sparked a furious row and claims of Islamophobia from Mr Anderson’s critics.
Mr Harper, the Transport Secretary, backed the decision to withdraw the whip and rebuked Mr Anderson for saying things that “aren’t correct”.
He told GB News: “There are many things to criticise Sadiq Khan for. He has got a terrible record as Mayor of London. I have been very critical about his rolling out the Ulez scheme with a false prospectus about why he is doing it to do with air quality when the evidence says it is nothing to do with it, pricing poorer motorists off the road.
“That is what we should be attacking Sadiq Khan about, his record, not about saying things that aren’t correct and are wrong. And that is why Lee Anderson had the whip removed.”
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