Lawmaker Claims Parliament Suspect's Religion "Irrelevant"
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A British lawmaker laughably suggested the religion of the Islamic jihadist who carried out a terrorist attack is “utterly and completely irrelevant.”
Lord Digby Jones, a crossbencher in the House of Lords, made the comments in response to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr. criticizing past comments from London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who suggested terrorist attacks are “part and parcel” of living in a big city.
“You’re safer in London than you’ve ever been,” Jones said. “If this turns out to be an act of Islamic terrorism, I think the fact that the man is a Muslim is utterly and completely irrelevant.”
In response to a bombing in New York that left nearly two dozen people injured in September, Khan suggested that such incidents were “part and parcel” of living in a major city.
“Part and parcel of living in a great global city is you’ve got to be prepared for these things,” he said at the time. “You’ve got to be vigilant. You’ve got to support the police doing an incredibly hard job.”
When asked about the tweet, Khan suggested he had “far more important things” to do than respond.
“I’m not going to respond to a tweet from Donald Trump Jr,” he said to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “I’ve been doing far more important things over the last 24 hours.”
Wes Streeting, the MP for Ilford North, called Trump Jr’s comments a “disgrace.” Streeting is a member of the Labour Party, as is Khan.
British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the attacker was a Muslim extremist known to intelligence services, while ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack that killed four people, including a police officer.
“The terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions, and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy, and freedom of speech,” she said as British police announced the arrest of eight additional suspects in anti-terror raids across the country.