London mayor Sadiq Khan suffered the ignominy of having his bold claim that London was “built by migrants” revised by a Twitter Community Note.
In a tweet posted on June 21 to commemorate “Refugee Week,” the Labour politician suggested the U.K. capital was constructed by migrants and refugees, and called on Londoners to stand against the “hostile, draconian and immoral immigration policies” adopted by other European nations.
“We must show more compassion towards those fleeing their country for a safer life,” he added.
The tweet in question has since become subject to a Twitter Community Note, a new system introduced under U.S. billionaire Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform that allows contributors to provide further context to misleading tweets.
The revision states: “The city of London was founded around the year 50 AD. It was built up over nearly 2,000 years by people we today call the English. It was not built by migrants/refugees, but by those native to the British isles.”
Khan’s post received widespread criticism across social media with many Brits taking issue with the claim.
While settlements in what is now called London existed in some capacity beforehand, the invasion of the Roman Empire is widely considered to be the starting point of the city as a trading hub and was named Londinium by the new settlers. The Romans were not economic migrants or refugees, but the largest army in the world at the time of their invasion of Britain.
However, despite the Romans founding the city, London has undergone several rebuilds throughout its long history. The city was frequently attacked during the Viking invasions between the 8th and 11th centuries, and more than a third of the city was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
The rebuild following this devastation was constructed by indigenous Brits with the assistance of English architects including Christopher Wren, who designed St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kensington Palace with the help of fellow Englishman Nicholas Hawksmoor, and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich — the home of Greenwich Mean Time — with assistance from Robert Hooke.
Sadiq Khan has been on an offensive in recent months in relation to his open borders agenda, claiming last month that London needs to welcome even more migrants to fill labor shortages and urging the British government to give him the power to decide how many people can come to the city.
“Devolve to cities like London the powers to have a regional shortage occupation list so I can be in charge of deciding how many people come into London to help our economy,” Khan told the British government during an interview with Channel 4 journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy.