- Sadiq Khan, 45, suspended his Commons-based speechwriter Shueb Salar
- On his Twitter account, Salar laughed about homosexuals abused in public
- Made offensive references to 'hoes' and 'f***ing faggots' on his Twitter feed
- Salar describes his duties as 'assisting in the drafting of speeches, reports'
Labour's candidate to become London Mayor was last night embroiled in a row over hugely offensive remarks about rape, murder and gay people made by one of his key aides.
Sadiq Khan suspended his Commons-based speechwriter after The Mail on Sunday discovered messages in which the aide laughed about seeing homosexuals being abused in public, and made reference to 'hoes' and 'f***ing faggots' – on a Twitter feed followed by the Labour mayoral hopeful.
Shueb Salar, who has represented Mr Khan at public events, continued to post them after he started working for Mr Khan in the run-up to last year's General Election.
Among the messages Mr Salar posted on Twitter was 'advice to anyone who's looking to murder their girlfriend and get away with it LOL'. The acronym stands for laugh out loud.
Sadiq Khan (left) suspended Shueb Salar (right) over a series of tweets in which he made reference to 'hoes', 'f***ing faggots'
He also posted a copy of a text message that read: 'Yo think I'm gonna do sexual offences its way easier.' Mr Salar captioned this: 'LOOL #rapist in the making.' LOOL usually stands for laughing outrageously out loud.
Last night, Chris Grayling, the Leader of the Commons, said that hiring Mr Salar raised 'serious questions' about Mr Khan's judgment and his suitability to be Mayor.
Mr Khan, the MP for Tooting since 2005, is currently favourite to beat Conservative hopeful Zac Goldsmith in May's battle to succeed Boris Johnson as Mayor.
Mr Salar describes his duties for Mr Khan as 'assisting in the drafting of speeches, reports, press releases, briefings, parliamentary questions, letters and email correspondence'.
He adds: 'I represent him at events/meetings and occasionally deal with constituency casework.'
Many of Mr Salar's messages use anti-gay language.
Shueb Salar, who has represented Mr Khan at public events, continued to post offensive tweets after he started working for Mr Khan in the run-up to last year's General Election
One of his tweets reads: 'Had the funniest tube journey ever! Some rowdy chavs were cussing these 2 gay guys for kissing LOL maybe they deserved it', while another says: 'What a f***ing faggot LOL'.
He also uses sexist language, with one message simply saying: 'F*** all you hoes'. The word 'hoe' is a slang term for a promiscuous woman.
Other messages include: 'Bitch please, don't be proud if every guy wants you. Cheap items have many buyers'; 'you's a milf and I'm a motherf*****' and 'The girl in front of me stinks'.
Mr Salar also posts about 'treating a lady' by 'buying her a nice iron and extending the kitchen for her', while his Facebook page links to a picture of a woman scrubbing a floor under the heading: 'Watching Cinderella in reverse is the story of a woman learning her place.'
The amateur boxer, who is a law graduate of the University of Bedfordshire, toned down the content of his tweets after starting work for Mr Khan in November 2014, but continued to 'favourite' other people's tasteless messages.
One shows an Asian man smiling, with the caption: 'When a desi aunty talking s*** about you but you know her daughter's a hoe'.
A 'desi aunty' is an offensive term for an Indian woman.
Among the messages Mr Salar posted on Twitter was 'advice to anyone who's looking to murder their girlfriend and get away with it LOL'
Another, 'favourited' two days after the Conservative Election win last May, shows a group of black youths seemingly watching a Tory voter being 'rushed' – street language for attacking someone. Some of Mr Salar's offensive messages are accompanied by different comic 'smiley face' icons.
Mr Khan has faced controversy before over his links with Islamic extremists he defended in his former job as a solicitor dealing with human rights issues.
They included the infamous Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whom Sadiq represented in the early 2000s in his efforts to overturn a ban on him coming to Britain.
Farrakhan had denounced white people as 'devils', described Jews as 'bloodsuckers', and called Hitler a 'very great man'.
Before joining Mr Khan's Westminster operation, 24-year-old Mr Salar also worked for a solicitor's company specialising in human rights.
He 'favourited' a tweet, two days after the Conservative Election win last May, which showed a group of black youths seemingly watching a Tory voter being 'rushed' – street language for attacking someone
Salar also posted a copy of a text message that read: 'Yo think I'm gonna do sexual offences its way easier.' He captioned this: 'LOOL #rapist in the making.'
The revelations about the aide's offensive tweets will be particularly embarrassing for Mr Khan, coming just a fortnight after he urged British Transport Police to crack down on offences on London's transport network, including taking photos without consent:
Mr Salar's Twitter feed includes a surreptitious picture of a portly man taken on the London Underground and accompanied by the caption 'LOOOOOL'.
Mr Grayling said: 'These comments have absolutely no place in modern society.
'They raise serious questions about the judgment of Sadiq Khan, who chose to employ this man, despite his views being public, on a Twitter account followed by Khan himself.
'The Mayor of London makes a large number of decisions about who to hire and how to spend public funds: his record shows Sadiq Khan can't make those decisions in a way that stands up for Londoners.'
Mr Salar's Twitter feed includes a surreptitious picture of a portly man taken on the London Underground and accompanied by the caption 'LOOOOOL'
Mr Salar (left) describes his duties for Mr Khan (right) as 'assisting in the drafting of speeches, reports, press releases, briefings, parliamentary questions, letters and email correspondence'
Mr Salar's Twitter account was terminated shortly after Mr Khan was contacted by this newspaper yesterday.
A spokesman for Mr Khan said: 'Clearly these are serious issues.
Shueb Salar has been suspended from Sadiq Khan's parliamentary office pending an investigation'.
Mr Salar declined to comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment