Conservative headquarters came under stinging attack on Thursday for posting a selectively edited clip attacking Sadiq Khan over antisemitism in the Labour party.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting tweeted: “The Tories know exactly what they’re doing and it’s disgusting.”
Echoing other Labour Members of Parliament, the Ilford North MP said that Mr Khan “has always been a Mayor for all Londoners and steadfast in his opposition to antisemitism”.
In a Sky News interview earlier on Thursday, the Mayor was quizzed about two Labour MP candidates in Lancashire who have been suspended by the party after audio emerged of them haranguing Israel following the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
“Language matters,” the Labour politician said, noting that Jewish Londoners he speaks to are frightened by the sort of rhetoric heard from the Commons hopefuls, which he stressed “isn’t acceptable”.
Labour was “proud to be both anti-racist but also antisemitic”, he said, before correcting himself to add “beg your pardon, tackling antisemitism”.
The clip run by the @Conservatives account on social media stopped his words after “proud to be both anti-racist but also antisemitic”. Its message said: “Sadiq Khan says the quiet part out loud.”
The row comes soon after Mr Khan warned that fake audio clips of him purportedly criticising Remembrance weekend events, and encouraging pro-Palestinian marches, had nearly caused “serious disorder” in the capital.
It also comes on the day that new figures from the Community Security Trust (CST) showed a surge in antisemitic incidents last year, especially since the war in Gaza started.
JCORE, a Jewish group campaigning on race and asylum, also condemned the Tory message. Its executive director Rabbi David Mason said: “A day when @CST_UK figures were released showing a massive rise in real AS (antisemitism) affecting the Jewish community, & you use a clear misspeaking to turn our community and antisemitism into a political football.
“The @MayorofLondon has looked to bring people together. Stop sowing division.”
Jewish Labour Movement chairman Mike Katz said: “Shame on you @Conservatives. Sadiq misspoke and instantly corrected himself. You cynically cut the video for a cheap political advantage.
“The Jewish community is tired of being used as a political football. Stop it.”
Miriam Mirwitch, a Labour councillor in Waltham Forest, said in a reply on X/Twitter: “Sadiq Khan clearly mis-spoke and you’ve selectively cut the clip short to misrepresent what he said.
“Both our Mayor and the Labour Party are working hard to fight antisemitism,” she said. “Your cynical political point scoring here will only hurt British Jews like me.”
City Hall and the Conservative Party declined to comment.
Mr Khan’s Tory mayoral opponent Susan Hall told the Standard: "We all slip up in interviews. I would know! Let's judge Sadiq on his policies, not his gaffes."
