London mayor hopes Trump will be different now

The mayor of London has said he hopes Donald Trump will be "different from the last time he was president".

Mr Trump will formally become the President of the United States for a second time at his inauguration later on Monday.

The two men have had a fractious relationship since Mr Trump's first presidency but talking to BBC London, Sir Sadiq Khan appeared to take a more conciliatory tone this time, saying he wanted to "work closely" with him.

Mr Trump's team has been contacted for a response.

There has been no love lost in the past between Sir Sadiq and the former, and soon to be next, US President.

When Mr Trump was last in office, he called Sir Sadiq a "stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London", and the mayor responded describing Mr Trump at the time as a "poster boy for racists".

Just last November, when Mr Trump beat Kamala Harris to the presidency, the mayor put out a statement claiming many Londoners would be "fearful" about what the election result would "mean for democracy".

The comment sparked criticism from Conservative London Assembly member Neil Garratt, who said at the time it was "important to recognise the legitimate winner of a free and fair election".

But since then, the new Labour government has been trying to put its own past criticisms of Mr Trump behind it in the hope of building a better relationship with the man who will determine whether the UK gets favourable trading terms with the US over the next four years.

And it seems, for now, the mayor has followed suit.

Ahead of Monday's presidential inauguration, Sir Sadiq said as somebody "who believes in democracy, and voting and elections, we should recognise the fact that Donald Trump is the elected President of the United States".

And he insisted he now "wanted to work closely with the American President".

But he added: "Let's keep our fingers crossed that this president is different from the last time he was president."

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