Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has been accused of “stonewalling” questions about whether London has a problem with so-called “grooming gangs”.
His Tory rival Susan Hall made nine successive attempts at Mayor’s Question Time to ask Sir Sadiq whether there were gangs operating, or previously active, in the capital.
But Sir Sadiq repeatedly asked Ms Hall, the former Tory mayoral candidate, to clarify what she meant by grooming gangs, claiming: “I’m not clear what she means.
He said young people were being “groomed” in London by County Lines drugs gangs.
Ms Hall made clear she was referring to “rape gangs” that prey on girls and young women for sex, and mentioned cases in Rotherham and Bradford.
It's a clear and specific question. She wasn't asking about drug gangs. Why didn't he answer?