Sadiq Khan today accused Tory strategist Lynton Crosby of locking away the “charming Zac Goldsmith that I knew” to unleash a bitterly divisive mayoral election campaign.
The Labour frontrunner attacked Sir Lynton after David Cameron criticised Mr Khan’s judgment for sharing platforms with hardline clerics.
Mr Khan said both his Tory rival Mr Goldsmith and the Prime Minister would come to regret the “divisive” election strategy — and accused election guru Sir Lynton of masterminding the “negative” campaign.
“The Zac Goldsmith that I knew, the Zac Goldsmith who has been locked away by Crosby, is charming, personable, wants to mix with people of different faiths, understands the importance of unity, celebrates the diversity of London,” he said.
Sir Lynton’s firm is overseeing Mr Goldsmith’s campaign, although he is not directly involved. His business partner Mark Fullbrook, a former head of campaigns for the Tories, is campaign director.
Mr Khan criticised Mr Cameron’s attack, which sparked angry scenes in Parliament yesterday and accusations from Labour MPs that the comments were racist.
He told a New Statesman event: “I’m disappointed in what the Prime Minister said. I think what he is doing is getting involved in Zac Goldsmith’s campaign which has been very negative.”
Mr Khan has not denied coming into contact with radical imam Suliman Gani — accused by Mr Cameron of supporting Islamic State — and other “unsavoury” individuals. But he has pointed to his past as a human rights lawyer and chair of human rights group Liberty.
Mr Goldsmith has described the cleric as “one of the most repulsive men in Britain” but in embarrassing revelations for the Tories it emerged Mr Gani also attended a political event with Mr Goldsmith and the pair have been photographed together.
The imam claimed he had backed Tory candidate Dan Watkins at the last general election against Mr Khan in Tooting and even supplied canvassers for his campaign.
He has also been pictured with several other Tory MPs. After the election the Tories asked him for help to find potential local councillors, he claimed, and Mr Watkins invited him to a Conservative Muslim Forum in Tooting meeting last autumn, where he met Mr Goldsmith.
Mr Goldsmith said: “The thread that runs through every piece of literature that I have put out has been about my action plan for London.”
