Boris Johnson has unleashed a barrage at London Mayor Sadiq Khan – saying he must take responsibility for rising knife crime in the capital.
The former foreign secretary described it as a ‘scandal’ that the murder rate in the city has been higher than in New York.
And he accused Mr Khan of blaming ‘everyone but himself’ for the rising levels of attacks in the capital.
Writing in the Telegraph Mr Johnson said: ‘It is tragic that so many young lives are again being lost on the pavements of our capital.
Boris Johnson (pictured left in London last week) has unleashed a barrage at London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured right) – saying he must take responsibility for rising knife crime
‘But for my money there is a further outrage – and that is the abject failure of the Mayor of London either to grip the problem, or even to take responsibility.’
Mr Johnson said Mr Khan had squandered the legacy he left as London mayor and was now trying to shirk blame.
‘He blames funding (when he was left with a large war chest by me); he blames the Tory Government; he blames society,’ he wrote.
‘He blames everyone but himself, when it is his paramount duty to keep Londoners safe. It is a pathetic performance.’
Mr Johnson said stop and searches ‘make a difference’ and that it was a ‘serious mistake’ for the Home Office to move away from them in 2015 – when Theresa May was in charge of the department.
He urged Mr Khan not to ‘berate’ the police, but to ‘get behind’ Scotland Yard.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics show the number of ‘knife and sharp instrument offences’ rose in the Metropolitan Police area from 13,341 to 14,159 between 2010 and 2011 when Mr Johnson was Mayor of London.
However, they then fell for three years in a row to 9,680 in 2014-15.
Mr Johnson left office in May 2016 when he was succeeded by Mr Khan.
The ONS data shows an increase to 12,061 offences in 2016-17 and 14,695 in the following year.
The increase in offences recorded between 2015-16 and 2016-17 was 23.9 per cent, while in England and Wales the increase was 19.6 per cent over the same period.
All areas of the country except the north east have seen a rise in the number of offences recorded.
Mr Johnson said stop and searches ‘make a difference’ and that it was a ‘serious mistake’ for the Home Office to move away from them in 2015 – when Theresa May (pictured at church with husband Philip yesterday) was in charge of the department