Washington: Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has said as U.S. President he would make an exception for London’s first Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan in his proposed temporary ban on the entry of Muslims to the U.S. and hoped that the Labour leader would set an example.
“I was happy to see that. I think it’s a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good,” Trump told The New York Times when asked about the election of Mr. Khan as the new London mayor.
Mr. Khan, who has been critical of Mr. Trump’s policies, had earlier said he would not be able to travel to the U.S. if the 69-year-old tycoon was elected as the president of the US.
“If Donald Trump becomes the president I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas,” Khan said.
“There will always be exceptions,” he said.
“Because I think if he does a great job, it will really —— you lead by example, always lead by example. If he does a good job and frankly if he does a great job, that would be a terrific thing,” Mr. Trump said.
On Sunday, Pakistani-origin Mr. Khan had accused British Prime Minister David Cameron’s ruling Conservative party of using “fear and innuendo” in a bid to turn religious and ethnic groups against each other during the mayoral campaign and said the tactics were straight out of the “Donald Trump playbook”.
“They used fear and innuendo to try to turn different ethnic and religious groups against each other —— something straight out of the Donald Trump playbook. Londoners deserved better and I hope it’s something the Conservative party will never try to repeat,” the Labour leader had said.