To City Hall, where tonight Sadiq Khan welcomed journalists from across the city to a Diageo-sponsored drinks reception. The London mayor took to the podium to laud the efforts of his diligent and dutiful staffers, taking time to praise his comms team for their relentless work trying to defend his decision-making. Yet about certain journalists, the Labour mayor wasn’t quite as gushing…
In his self-congratulatory speech, Khan was quick to call out the commentariat for their pre-election predictions in May. Hitting out at those who suggested his Tory opponent Susan Hall could have won the contest — making a rather specific dig at one BBC broadcaster — the London mayor remarked:
We’ve got a change of political leadership in Scotland in Holyrood, in Cardiff, in Westminster, but not — as you’ve heard — in City Hall yet. It was a record-breaking, history making landslide victory. Could I thank Laura Kuenssberg for a tweet the night before for creating that sense of jeopardy?
Ouch. The Labour politician went on, nodding to attendees present from other media outlets:
All of you, in the job that you do, have to go through the trouble of fact checking, have to go through the trouble of giving us the right to reply and also the trouble of giving coherent, sensible commentary and critique — something your competitors on social media don’t have to do. Your role is incredibly important and it won’t be taken take for granted. You can sometimes be a pain in the arse — but that’s the price you pay for living in a democracy.
Er, charming. Talk about a backhanded compliment…
However, for all Khan’s digs, there was curiously little mention of the mayor’s recent trip to Taylor Swift’s Wembley gig — after the London politician made headlines for personally intervening to secure the US singer VVIP security during her London trip, alongside Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. It has since been revealed that the mayor received freebie tickets to the star’s show worth £3,000 prior to protection discussions. And while Prime Minister Keir Starmer covered the cost of his Swiftie freebie, it seems Khan is unwilling to follow suit. Despite attempting to charm journalists at tonight’s reception, it would appear the lefty mayor hasn’t quite got the media off his back yet…
Comments