It is no secret that the current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan – who is of Pakistani heritage – has proven to be an extremely controversial figure throughout his tenure as Mayor, not least due to his views on culture and diversity (which strongly favour multiculturalism over homogeneity), but his most recent controversy has even prompted Khan himself to distance himself from the whole affair.
As part of his online campaign to promote himself and his Greater London Authority (GLA), a guide on Khan’s website appeared that was intended to promote London as “a city for all Londoners”. Once again focusing his efforts on promoting diversity, Khan pledged that his campaign as Mayor of London would appeal to “all ages, genders, sexual orientations and family make-ups”. This was reported by the British news outlet The Independent. However, one picture in particular on the campaign website sparked fierce backlash and was cited as one of the most blatant examples of Khan’s arguably anti-white rhetoric when it comes to discussing London’s demographics.
The picture in question depicts a happy white family – a father, mother and two children – walking happily along the River Thames in Central London, near the London Eye and across the river from the Houses of Parliament. A caption accompanying the image reads “Does not represent real Londoners”. According to Khan himself, the caption was added by a different staff member “in error” and has claimed that he does not share the same view himself. How one can add such a caption on a photo of a white family in the middle of London in error remains a mystery. A spokesperson for Khan and the GLA has stated that the image and caption have both been removed from the website and are under review.
A separate picture on the website shows Khan himself posing for photos with a large group of people, the majority of whom are not white. It is not even clear whether one or two people also featured in the photo are themselves white or some other light-skinned ethnic group. Nevertheless, the image is a depressingly accurate symbol reflecting the demographic state of London today.
Sadiq Khan’s main rival in next year’s London Mayoral Election, Susan Hall, of the centre-right Conservative Party, has demanded that Khan formally apologises for the incident, which risks further alienating traditional working-class white British voters away from Khan’s centre-left Labour Party. That said, however, due to the overwhelming majority of London’s population being of non-British heritage, it is unlikely that anybody else but the pro-multiculturalism Labour Party will be in power in the capital city anytime in the foreseeable future. London is effectively a stronghold for the Labour Party and so-called “progressive” ideologies, so the emergence of a genuinely conservative force gaining ground in the city is likely to dwindle ever more as London’s demographics become increasingly non-British. The remaining white British people in London tend to be of a more left-wing and liberal ideological persuasion as well. An increasing number of conservative-minded British people have been leaving London for – often literally – greener pastures in other parts of the UK, or even moving to other countries altogether.
Despite Susan Hall’s demand for a formal apology from Sadiq Khan for the “error” on his website, it is highly unlikely that this incident will do much to harm Khan’s leading numbers in opinion polls. According to Susan Hall herself:
All Londoners are real Londoners, no matter their ethnicity, and Sadiq Khan needs to apologise and stop these desperate, politically-motivated attempts to divide people.
A reminder to readers that London’s white British population has been rapidly declining in percentage numbers for several decades now, to the point where white British people are officially a minority in their own capital city, and have been for quite some time now. As of the 2021 UK Census, white British people now make up just 36.8% of London’s population. However, it must also be noted that the official category of White British in the official national census includes people who are ethnically English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish (categorised separately from Irish people from the Republic of Ireland) and Cornish. This means that the number of ethnically English people in their own capital city is actually lower than 36.8%. Such low population numbers for the native people speak volumes about the tragic direction that London’s demographics are going. For the pro-multiculturalism centre-left Labour Party, however, this is a blessing for their future successes as a political party in the capital city. The more non-British people there are in London – along with the more “progressive” and left-wing white British voters – the stronger the Labour Party’s grip on London is, thereby ensuring that the chances of a future conservative – let alone nationalist – city government remain slim to none.
Stefan Brakus
ETN Board Member (Serbia)
