Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed Donald Trump’s claim that London is “heading for Sharia law” as “ridiculous nonsense.”
The comments came after the former U.S. president used his speech at the UN General Assembly to attack London’s mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, calling him a “terrible mayor” who had “changed” the city.
Trump went further, suggesting London wanted to adopt Sharia law — remarks that Khan branded “racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic.”
Speaking to reporters, Starmer defended the mayor:
"I'm not going to get drawn into a war of words, but what I will say is this, because it is important.
"You saw from the state visit last week that there are plenty of things on which the president and I agree, and we are working together.
"There are some issues on which we disagree, and what the president said about the mayor, who's doing a really good job, in fact driving down serious crime, what he said about the introduction of Sharia law was ridiculous nonsense.
"I support our mayor, I'm really proud of the fact we have a Muslim mayor of a very diverse city. "We do work with the Americans on a huge number of issues. On this issue I disagree, and I stand with our mayor."
He added that he had spoken directly to Khan after Trump’s speech, making clear his support.
Khan himself fired back, joking that he seemed to be “living rent-free inside Donald Trump’s head.” He also brushed off the “terrible mayor” insult, pointing instead to record numbers of American tourists in the capital and London’s continued reputation as a global cultural hub.
Cabinet minister Pat McFadden also weighed in, stressing that only British law applies in the UK. Justice minister Sarah Sackman recently told MPs the same, clarifying that while Sharia councils do exist, their role is limited to matters like religious marriage and financial disputes — and their rulings carry no legal force. Photo by U.S. Embassy London, Wikimedia commons.