Tory leaders face calls to investigate a former London Mayoral candidate who shared a sick AI image of Sadiq Khan drowning.
Susan Hall’s actions have been branded “disgusting” and a complaint has been lodged to the London Assembly, which she is a member of. Ms Hall, who was resoundingly defeated by Mr Khan last year, shared a post by a hard-right Twitter /X user with a fake picture showing him struggling in the water.
The image was captioned “What would you throw to save Khan?” – to which Ms Hall responded: “A ULEZ camera”, referring to the capital’s ultra low emission zone.
Labour MP Neil Coyle said: ‘These comments from Susan Hall are a disgrace. Joking about someone drowning should be below any decent politician, from any party. I hope the Chair of the Conservative Party will investigate these disgusting remarks and take appropriate action.’
And London Assembly member Leonie Cooper has lodged a complaint with the authority’s monitoring officer. She wrote: “Reposting, sharing and making jokes about AI generated imagery which depicts violence against politicians is unacceptable.
“Political disagreements are vital to the democratic process and it is right that we can take different views and can debate robustly against those with whom we disagree. However, posts such as the above dehumanise political opponents and encourage political violence.”
Ms Cooper said Ms Hall’s post – which was pinned to her account – attracted a number of racist repplies. She wrote that it was “foreseeable” that it would lead to a “pile on of abusive and racist comments aimed at the Mayor”.
She said: ‘I hope Assembly Member Susan Hall takes the opportunity to reflect and apologise.’’
The Mirror has contacted Ms Hall and Tory HQ for comment. Ms Hall was heavily criticised for comments and social media activity during her race against Mr Khan.
She controversially claimed Jewish people were scared of the London Mayor. In response the Board of Deputies of British Jews hit out at the comments, saying the incumbent London Mayor has treated the community with “friendship and respect”.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
