Britain First leader turns his back on Sadiq Khan during mayor’s acceptance speech

Britain First leader Paul Golding made a scene during the announcement of the London’s new Mayor at City Hall on Friday night by turning around to face the windows when Labour's Sadiq Khan was declared winner.

As Khan spoke about "hope over fear and unity over division" in his victory speech, Golding stood with his back on the city's first ever Muslim mayor, and turned round to face the front during Zac Goldsmith's concession speech.

The move has come under fire for being impolite and prejudiced.



Britain First's deputy leader Jayda Fransen dismissed the party's humiliating finish in eighth place with less than one per cent of the vote share, linking it to the ‘shrinking number of Britons left in the capital.’

“…As became blatantly obvious with the election of Labour's Islamist mayor, there is an increasingly shrinking number of Britons left in the capital overall and far too many Muslims,” she said.

“Britons make up less than 45 per cent of the capital and at least half of those who remain will be the 'trendy' leftwing chattering class types...”



Fransen explained Golding's protest, saying it was designed to "shock" the "old gang contingents in the audience, not to mention the media".

“Showing your back is an age-old form of polite protest and the Left is particularly fond of this tactic.”

Not surprisingly, many took to social media to have their say on it:

Britain First's Paul Golding may have turned his back on Sadiq Khan, but the entire city of London turned theirs on him. The scumbag.

— Mike (@Mike_P_Williams) May 7, 2016

Britain First candidate turns his back on Sadiq Khan as London turns its back on the racist & divisive politics that Britain First stand for

— Abby Tomlinson (@twcuddleston) May 6, 2016

https://twitter.com/Mumbler3/status/728827592724389888

What a vile little man Paul Golding is Britain first candidate turning his back on Sadiq Khan racism AND sour grapes pic.twitter.com/OpSZWARrxM

— Andy Hearn (@AndyHearn09) May 7, 2016

https://twitter.com/JamesFahy23/status/728856292400476160

https://twitter.com/andybcfc2013/status/728857390569955328

'Rejected fascist', Golding, of Britain First branded 'sore loser bigot' In #londonmayoral election, @uaf https://t.co/NiwAKzNBYG

— Unite Against Fascism (@uaf) May 7, 2016

Khan was sworn in as Mayor of London on Saturday, becoming the first Muslim to head a major European capital despite an election campaign marked by the ruling Conservatives’ efforts to link him to extremism.

This article originally appeared on Independent