Tory leadership candidates line up to take Trump's side in row with London mayor Sadiq Khan

London mayor branded 'churlish and childish' as senior Conservatives weigh in behind US president

Conservative leadership candidates have given their backing to Donald Trump and criticised Sadiq Khan following the latest row between the pair.

Esther McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, said the London mayor was "churlish and childish", while Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, accused him of "virtue signalling".

The US president caused uproar by attacking Mr Khan on Twitter moments before landing in the UK for a three-day state visit.

He called him a "stone cold loser" who had "done a terrible job" as mayor and should "focus on crime in London". He also compared the Labour politician to New York mayor Bill de Blasio, who he called "very dumb and incompetent", although he added that Mr Khan was "half his height".

Mr Khan hit back, dismissing the "childish insults" and calling Mr Trump "the most egregious example of a growing far-right threat around the globe".

But candidates in the race to succeed Theresa May as prime minister suggested Mr Khan was at fault for the row after criticising the US president and allowing a blimp of a baby Mr Trump to fly above London during the visit.

Esther McVey​, the former work and pensions secretary, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire: "Sadiq Khan, with his baby balloon, is showing himself to be very churlish and childish. When you've got such a big important visitor coming to the country, I think it's disrespectful."

Asked whether she was suggesting that the row was Mr Khan's fault, she said: "I think he knows once he's doing insults at the president of the United States, when we know that Trump likes to go onto his Twittersphere, it's something he will respond to. I think Sadiq is virtue signalling, maybe distracting from what he's not getting right. I think Donald Trump did hit a raw nerve."

Mr Khan was "distracting from his lack of leadership in his own area", she added.

Mr Hunt, another of the leadership candidates, also backed Mr Trump. He admitted that the Republican was a "very controversial president" but said Labour politicians were wrong to criticise the visit.

He said: "What is really inappropriate is for anyone to boycott a visit by the president of the United States. This is a state visit, not a political visit - he's being hosted by Her Majesty the Queen to mark the great friendship between our two countries. It's not about party politics.

"For the Labour Party to be boycotting this visit on the grounds of sexism and racism on a day when in the newspapers their candidate in the Peterborough by-election [Lisa Forbes] is being accused of liking an antisemitic post on Facebook, when they're being accused of turning a blind eye to terrible behaviour in Labour Party HQ, it shows that this is about virtue signalling on Labour's side, not about any position of principle."

He added: "British people are going to be looking at this and saying that when the president of the United States, our closest ally, comes to the UK on a state visit, we should be making him feel incredibly welcome on this, the 75th anniversary of D-Day."

Asked about the row, Theresa May's official spokesman brushed off Mr Trump's comments about Mr Khan, saying: "It’s a matter for them. They can both speak for themselves."

But other senior Tories backed Mr Trump and condemned the London mayor for comparing the US president to the "fascists of the 20th century".

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chair of the European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs, told talkRADIO: "I think it's perfectly reasonable of the president of the United States. What the mayor of London said was deeply disgraceful. The fascists of the 1930s massacred millions of people. Mr Trump is the democratically elected president of our closest ally.

"I think that Mr Khan demeans his office and demeans the nation. What he has said is quite wrong and deeply improper."

He added: "I think for the president to hit back and say that he's a failed mayor of London, which is true, with spiralling knife crime, deeply congested roads, general incompetence in City Hall, is fair enough, so I'm backing Mr Trump in this row."

And James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, said: "It's important that we engage seriously and sensibly with one of our closest allies.

"People will have different views, and indeed that relationship allows us to have conversations on a range of different issues - I think the responsible thing to do is to actually engage with that process, to actually have that conversation.

"Those that are saying they don't want to see the president, I think that is fundamentally mistaken and is not in the best interests of our country or indeed, here in London, the best interests of our capital city."