Sadiq Khan corrected himself immediately after interview gaffe

A video showing Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan giving an interview on Sky News was cut by the Conservative Party on Twitter to make it appear that he said the Labour Party was antisemitic.

Evaluation: False

Mr Khan did say that Labour “is proud to be both anti-racist but also antisemitic,” but immediately corrected himself by saying “I beg your pardon. Tackling antisemitism.”

The facts

On February 15 the Conservative Party uploaded a six-second clip of Mr Khan to X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter.

The clip starts as Mr Khan is mid-sentence. In it he said: “…a party like mine that is proud to be both anti-racist but also antisemitic.”

As was pointed out by other users on the social media platform, Mr Khan quickly corrected this gaffe just a second after the video cuts out.

A transcript of the segment, which aired on Sky News, reads as follows.

Sadiq Khan: “I’ve seen a number of things in the media, so I have to rely on what I’ve seen in the media, I wasn’t at the meeting, I’ve not seen the transcript.

“Look, when you bear in mind the sensitivities of how people across the country are feeling – those from a Jewish background, those from a Muslim background – the language matters.

“And when I speak to Jewish Londoners, the way they receive some of these things, they feel scared, they feel frightened, and sometimes this language can be used as a code.

“And I think we’ve got to be cognisant of that, particularly if you aspire to be a member of parliament, or you’ve been a member of parliament.

“So I’m only going by what I’ve read in the media, I’ve not seen the transcripts, but as far as I’m concerned that sort of language isn’t acceptable and it certainly shouldn’t be acceptable in a party like mine that is proud to be both anti-racist but also antisemitic.

Sky News interviewer: “And we’ll come back to some of those…”

Sadiq Khan, interrupting: “Tackling, sorry. I beg your pardon. Tackling antisemitism.”

The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment.

Links

Claim on X (archived post and video)

Longer video posted by Labour MP Florence Eshalomi (archived post and video)