Donald Trump has said he "didn't want" Sir Sadiq Khan to attend any of his State Visit events and unleashed a scathing attack on the London Mayor.
The US President has this evening ended his unprecedented second State Visit to the UK, having conducted high-level meetings with both the Royal Family and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
However, it is now understood that Mr Trump asked that Sir Sadiq not be invited to the dinner last night.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, he admitted he "didn't want" the London Mayor to attend the State Banquet and branded Sir Sadiq "one of the worst mayors in the world".
Mr Trump told reporters: "I didn't want him there.
"I asked that he not be there.
"I think the mayor of London Khan is among the worst mayors in the world, and we have some bad ones..."
He went on to condemn Sir Sadiq over London's ballooning crime rates, saying it was "through the roof".
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Donald Trump has admitted he 'didn't want Sadiq Khan' to attend the State Banquet
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Mr Trump continued: "He wanted to be there. As I understand it, I didn't want it.
"I've not liked him for a long time.
"I just think, you know, I have a certain pride in London and the UK, my mother was born in Scotland, and when I see Mayor Khan do a bad job – the stabbings, the dirt and the filth – it’s not the same. I didn’t want him there."
Just prior to Mr Trump's arrival, Sir Sadiq penned an Op-Ed in The Guardian, condemning the US President for fanning the flames of divisive politics.
Donald Trump said crime in Sadiq Khan's London was 'through the roof'
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He wrote: "President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years.
"When he came to the UK on his first state visit, I highlighted how the president had deliberately used xenophobia, racism and 'otherness' as an electoral tactic, introducing a travel ban on a number of Muslim-majority countries and praising white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"Six years later, the tactics we see from today’s White House seem no different. Scapegoating minorities, illegally deporting US citizens, deploying the military to the streets of diverse cities.
"These actions aren’t just inconsistent with Western values – they’re straight out of the autocrat’s playbook."
In a joint press conference with Sir Keir prior to his departure, Mr Trump told the Prime Minister "deploy the military" to tackle the small boat invasion.
The President said: "You have people coming in, and I told the Prime Minister I would stop it. And it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.
"But it destroys countries from within, and we’re now actually removing the people that came into the country.
"It’s a very hard chore, we were given a very, very bad hand... We have to remove them and we are removing them, we have no choice, and I feel very strongly about it."