By Lester Holloway  – writing in a personal capacity

Labour’s candidate for London for London mayor, Sadiq Khan, has accused his Tory rival of playing ‘divide and rule’ in the race for City Hall.

Khan is backed by race equality activists who accuse the London Evening Standard newspaper of mounting a ‘dog whistle’ smear campaign on behalf of hapless Tory Zac Goldsmith.

The free London paper has run a series of articles attempting to link Khan with Muslim extremists, despite the Tooting MP’s long record of condemning fundamentalism.

Activists say the contest has echoes of 2008 when Boris Johnson crushed Ken Livingstone after a brutal media campaign targeted at his race equality adviser Lee Jasper and associates like Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Pastor Nims Obunge.

Khan said: “I want to reach out to every community for support, not win by divide and rule. But the Tories are trying to turn London’s communities against each other.”

A recent London Evening Standard headline ‘Exposed: Sadiq Khan’s family links to extremist organisation’ claimed the Labour candidate’s ex brother-in-law once associated with a radical Muslim group 20 years ago.

Another headline, ‘Sadiq Khan ‘can’t recall if he shared other platforms with extremists’, alleged that Khan once appeared on a platform of a group called Stop Political Terror, speaking for his constituent Babar Ahmed who was facing extradition to the United States, and that this group was supported by an extremist.

But critics of the paper claim it is reheating the vicious mayoral campaign of eight years ago when the Standard printed 17 front pages and 48 double-page spreads aimed at bringing down Jasper. Five inquiries and audits failed to substantiate any of the claims against him, but Johnson was already elected.

It is understood that the Standard have lined-up several more low-blows, including the fact that Khan once represented National of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as a human rights lawyer before becoming an MP, in a bid to overturn the government’s ban on him entering Britain.

Khan supporters believe such a link would be tantamount to claiming that every lawyer agrees with the views and actions of their clients.

Shortly after the bruising 2008 campaign the Standard ran a ‘sorry for losing touch’ ad campaign, but activists say they may need to apologise all over again for running a series of negative headlines linking Khan with Muslim extremism.

One prominent black politician, who did not want to be named, said: “This is clearly a plan to scare suburbia by playing on the fact that Sadiq is a brown Muslim.

“They are playing the donut strategy where outer London is pitched against inner London.

“Sadiq may be Asian but make no mistake this is a black issue too. An attack on him is also an attack on Africans and Caribbean’s. Be in no doubt this would happen to a black candidate too.

“The 2008 campaign may have got Boris in but it did enormous damage to the Standard’s reputation which they had to apologise for. Do they really want to go there again? If I was the editor [Sarah Sands] I’d say ‘no’. They might get their guy in but the Standard may never recover this time around. It could finish the paper off.”

Zac Goldsmith’s campaign dismissed the claims as “total nonsense” and said they were not responsible for what the papers write. A spokesman told The Voice: “There is nothing to suggest we’ve got anything to do with it. If we wanted to run a nasty campaign we would do, but we aren’t.”

Despite Khan being ahead in the polls, Labour strategists know they have their work cut out as the Tories concentrate on outer London and wealthy areas.

Labour are also nervous about the impact of changes to voter registration that could see over 400,000 voters disappear off the electoral roll. The change to individual instead of household registration could disproportionately disenfranchise younger and ethnic minority voters.

Khan was upbeat saying: “It is a source of pride that communities that are often in conflict in other parts of the world live side by side in peace in London. I want my election as mayor to represent that harmony.

“I have always spoken out against the vile people who promote extremism and radicalisation and have laid out a real plan to tackle these problems as Mayor of London.

“I want to be a mayor who sends a powerful message to African and Caribbean communities: that our children can achieve anything that they want to because this city gave them the opportunities to do so.”

Goldsmith and Khan have already locked horns after the Tory claimed the Labour candidate was ‘playing the race card.’ That came after Khan alleged Goldsmith was guilty of ‘dog whistle’ tactics for suggesting that Khan was only targeting inner city London.

Dr Martin Edobor, chair of the Young Fabians, added: “The main problem is that this negative tone has been set by the Goldsmith campaign, who attempt to repeatedly portray Sadiq as a radical. I think it’s awful, dog-whistle politics.

“Sadiq’s vision is progressive and forward looking, and I do not think Londoners are being distracted by the negative campaigning from Goldsmith.

“Sadiq Khan has a track record of fighting on the side of African and Caribbean Londoners. Whether that is campaigning against stop and search or for progressive prison reform, Sadiq has always been there for the black community in London.”

A spokesman for Goldsmith said: “This allegation is total nonsense. Khan should spend less time making unfounded allegations and start answering how he will fill the £2 billion black hole in his spending plans.

“The choice facing Londoners in this election is between Zac standing up with his Action Plan for Greater London – more homes, better transport, cleaner air and safer streets – and Khan and Corbyn’s experimental policies that put London’s future at risk.”

The 2008 campaign

The London Evening Standard ran a long campaign to discredit Ken Livingstone’s race adviser Lee Jasper led by journalist Andrew Gilligan, who is now an adviser to Boris Johnson who defeated Livingstone.

The paper ran 17 front pages and 48 double-page spreads attacking Jasper and his associates, alleging that millions of pounds had gone missing. These claims have never been proven.

Using leaked emails, Gilligan ran stories on the fact that Jasper was living in a housing association property and flirtatious emails between Jasper and the director of a race equality group.

Jasper said: “Running horrible bitter campaigns has been the Tories’ Modus Operandi ever since [election strategist] Lynton Crosby arrived from Australia.

“Sadiq will be in for a torrid campaign and they will throw the kitchen sink at him. The campaign against me also did damage to ordinary black people around me but they just saw it as collateral damage. Yet after five investigations there was no case to answer.

“Now the paper that said ‘we’re sorry for losing touch’ has, like a dog, returned to its’ old vomit.”

View from the grassroots

David Michael, founder of the National Black Police Association and Labour activist: “I saw the Tory attack-ad and there was undisguised innuendo about his background. It’s very distasteful actually. I really don’t know what they hope to gain from it in a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-faith London. They are trying to demonise Sadiq because of his difference. It’s ridiculous; Sadiq Khan is on the record as emphatically condemning all forms of extremism.”

Patrick Vernon, race equality adviser to Kate Green, Labour’s shadow equalities minister and chair of the party’s race equality advisory group: “It would be interesting if the media did a similar story on the other candidates and whether they had distant family relations with connections with any kind of extremism or exploitation.

“The stories yes may influence some but generally I  don’t think it will make a major difference as African and Caribbean communities in London are aware of how the media can attacked and discredit other Black politicians like Diane Abbott or Bernie Grant.”

Kanja Sessay, former national black students officer: “The recent media coverage attempting to link Sadiq Khan and his relatives to extremism, is a complete shame and disgraceful practice by some in the media. Sadiq Khan is seen as a role model by many Muslims including myself. His whole campaign is about uniting all Londoners. I hope it won’t affect African Caribbean’s negatively. I think rather they will identify with the racism he is facing and rally behind him.”

Khan needs to outreach more with black community

While many activists are sympathetic towards Sadiq Khan, some say he has work to do to reach out to African and Caribbean communities in London.

Khan can count former police chief Leroy Logan as a key supporter, but there are less big community ‘names’ around Khan than was the case with Ken Livingstone.

Marc Wadsworth, editor of the-latest.com and a former chair of the old Labour Black Sections, commented: “People are more concerned what relationship Sadiq has with us. There is a question-mark over this.

“He needs to outreach and associate with key figures in our communities for us to have confidence that issues like stop and search and deaths in custody will be tackled with him as mayor.

“He can’t just take our votes for granted. Black voters are a lot more discerning. I say this as a friend and ally. He needs to up his game or some might be tempted to vote for George Galloway.”

Terry Paul, a councillor in Newham, added: “I’d like Sadiq Khan to engage more. But we as a community also need to engage and register to vote. If every black Londoner votes, Sadiq wins.”

Lester Holloway is writing in a personal capacity.