The London Mayoral race descended into an angry row today after Zac Goldsmith accused Sadiq Khan of “playing the race card”.
The Tory candidate defended campaign literature in which he had described his Labour rival, who is Muslim, of being “radical and divisive”.
Mr Khan had taken offence at the claim, which his campaign team said could be seen as a “coded racist attack” amid current fears over Islamist extremism.
Yesterday he accused Mr Goldsmith of “playing with fire” in his choice of words in the leaflets, which were distributed in London last month.
The Tory MP launched a counter-attack, today insisting his criticisms concerned the Left-wing agenda adopted by the Labour Party.
Mr Goldsmith said: “I think he is playing with fire. I don’t think there is anything more divisive than playing the race card when clearly, unambiguously, it does not apply. It’s very obvious that what I was referring to when I described him as a radical candidate as part of a radical process that has enveloped the Labour Party.”
He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “If I cannot use the term radical to describe what has happened to the Labour Party … I don’t know when I’d be able to use it. We have an opposition party that is now more extreme than at any point on my lifetime.”
The leaflet had claimed Mr Khan’s “divisive and radical politics” will mean fewer affordable homes, less reliable transport and divided communities”.
Today Mr Khan stepped up his campaign to ensure Londoners rather than overseas buyers are given priority to purchase properties in the capital.
The Tooting MP tabled an amendment to the Housing Bill allowing councils to ringfence a proportion of new homes to be marketed exclusively to Londoners before they are offered elsewhere.
New evidence of the scale of overseas marketing by major agents emerged — with one alone, JLL, staging no fewer than 40 events last year.
Hong Kong’s Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hotel was the venue for more than quarter of these events. Mr Khan said: “This investigation reveals the shocking scale of homes being sold to overseas investors rather than to the Londoners who desperately need them.”
A spokeswoman for JLL said: "We are fully supportive of the Mayoral Concordat - New homes for Londoners signed by the all the major London House builders which ensures an opportunity for London purchasers to buy before, or at least at the same time as international buyers.
“The London mayoral candidates must be clear that off-plan purchasers are vital to underpin construction activity, employment and crucially affordable homes. New supply is the only long-term solution to London’s housing crisis and all policy efforts must be towards ensuring Londoners see the homes built that they need.”
