London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan's aide suspended over social media posts

One of London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan’s parliamentary aides has been suspended over a series of offensive messages reportedly posted on his social media account.

Shueb Salar, a parliamentary assistant to the former minister, allegedly posted a string of messages on Twitter containing abusive language about women and homosexuals. Mr Khan is the bookies’ favourite to win the election on 5 May against Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith.

A spokeswoman for Mr Khan said: “Clearly these are serious issues. Shueb Salar has been suspended from Sadiq Khan’s parliamentary office pending an investigation.”

One message, from May 2012, reportedly posted on Mr Salar’s account read: “currently hating on all you faggots who have finished uni”.

A post from June 2012 read “f**k all you hoes” while a message from April 2012 suggested that the way to “treat a lady” was to “buy her a nice iron and extend the kitchen for her”.

Cabinet minister Chris Grayling questioned Khan’s judgment in employing someone accused of publishing the comments. The Commons leader said: “These comments have absolutely no place in modern society.

“They raise serious questions about the judgment of Sadiq Khan who chose to employ this man despite his views being public, on a Twitter account followed by Khan himself.

“The mayor of London makes a large number of decisions about who to hire and how to spend public funds: his record shows Sadiq Khan can’t make those decisions in a way that stands up for Londoners.”

Additional reporting by Press Association