The war of words continues between Donald Trump and Sadiq Khan. Not the same attitude the US President has towards Zohran Mamdani…
Speaking to POLITICO US, Trump unleashed on the London mayor:
“If you take a look at London, you have a mayor named Khan. He’s a horrible mayor. He’s an incompetent mayor, but he’s a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job. London’s a different place. I love London. I love London, and I hate to see it happen. You know, my roots are in Europe, as you know, right? And I hate to see that happen. This is one of the great places in the world, and they’re allowing people just to come in unchecked, unvetted.”
Trump added “I want to run the United States. I don’t want to run Europe. I’m involved in Europe very much… I hate what’s happened to London.” Expect Khan to come back on that one…
The Trump administration is telling US diplomats in Britain to review “human rights abuses” committed by migrants, with an internal memo claiming Brits have been “let down” on immigration by both the Tories and Labour. Similar instructions were shared to embassies across Europe, Canada, Australia and Canada, although the UK was singled out as an outlier. Particularly on the failure to tackle “organised rape gangs”…
A US State Department official wrote:
“The British government in particular, time and time again we’ve seen governments — whether it be Conservative governments, Labour governments — say that they’re going to take action to solve the mass migration crisis… And time and time again, despite the people continuously voting for a resolution or at least some sort of relief from the pressures of mass migration, nothing has really happened…
“Everything from violent rape gangs and organised rape gangs in the United Kingdom to targeting of young girls in other countries. We also see instances of human trafficking, antisemitic and anti-Christian attacks, largely by people of radical Islamic backgrounds.”
Trump himself has hardly been shy in offering Starmer public advice on cracking down on illegal immigration. Doesn’t look like the White House thinks he paid too much attention…
The BBC has made edits to its flagship Reith lecture series, this year delivered by Trump-hating Dutch author Rutger Bregman. His lectures caused outrage across the pond for their attacks on the US President amid the BBC bias row…
Bregman has taken to X to complain that the BBC has edited out a line his lecture in which he describes Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history” in the version uploaded to iPlayer. He “was told the decision came from the highest levels within the BBC”…
According to a source present at the recording of the lecture – delivered to around 500 guests – the BBC has also deleted a section in which Bregman thanked the BBC team for helping him with the text. This runs counter to the BBC’s excuse that “the views expressed are always those of the speaker, not the BBC, and they are discussed and challenged after the lecture.” Trump-critical answers to audience questions have also been edited out. Splice yourself into a mess, splice yourself out of it?
Washington is threatening to cut off the supply of weapons and intelligence to Ukraine unless Zelensky signs Trump’s proposed peace deal by next Thursday (27th). According to Reuters, the US is now putting increased pressure on the Ukrainians, with one source reportedly saying “they want to stop the war and want Ukraine to pay the price“. Zelensky and Trump are scheduled to speak by phone next week…
Starmer has just told pool cameras “Ukraine must determine its future under its sovereignty” following his own discussion with the Ukrainian leader. The 28-point peace plan involves surrendering the Donbas and Crimea to Russia, halving the size of Ukraine’s military, and readmitting Russia into what is now the G7. All in exchange for security guarantees…
A BBC spokesperson said chairman Samir Shah has sent a personal letter to the White House to apologise for the editing of the speech in the Panorama programme, but added: “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.” Oops…
John Simpson, the BBC’s World Affairs Editor, posted a boast on X this morning about the BBC:
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
— John Simpson (@JohnSimpsonNews) November 11, 2025
Guido’s Verify service began examining the claims. No need, Simpson debunked himself…
Within hours he posted an apology:
“It’s apologising season. The audience for BBC output in the US is just over 40 million, not 77 million as I said. That’s the figure for the Americas as a whole. But the BBC is indeed the second most trusted news source in the US.”
The original tweet was seen over 300,000 times. Half-right is good enough for the BBC…
Simpson’s boast about the BBC’s viewership in the US may also be seen as unhelpful seeing as one key point Trump will have to prove is that the miselading Panorama programme was viewable in Florida. D’oh!
Douglas Alexander – a friend of Starmer’s – was asked on Sky News if the PM will be in post at the next election. He wasn’t so sure himself:
“I think he will. There are no certainties but of course I think he will lead and I think he should because, frankly, on the biggest call in this parliament he’s exercised the right judgment, which is to keep us out of someone else’s war.”