Sadiq Khan: Londoners welcome to look at bikini-clad blimp of me

London mayor Sadiq Khan has said people are welcome to look at a giant balloon depicting him in a yellow bikini which will fly over Parliament Square this weekend.

Organisers have raised more than £58,000 for the 29ft blimp as part of a campaign seeking to remove Mr Khan from his post.

They claim crime has risen sharply during his time in City Hall and intend to use the inflatable to “demonstrate our unhappiness with him as our mayor of London”.

But Mr Khan appeared relaxed about the stunt, telling ITV London: “If people want to spend their Saturday looking at me in a yellow bikini they’re welcome to do so – I don’t really think yellow’s my colour though.”

It comes after the London mayor defended the flying of a blimp of Donald Trump over the capital during the US president’s visit last month.

A Crowdfunder page set up by Yanny Bruere, who describes himself as a free speech advocate, says: “In light of the Donald Trump ‘Baby Trump’ balloon being allowed to fly over London during his visit to the UK, let’s get a ‘baby Khan’ one and see if FREE SPEECH applies to all and whether or not Mr Khan and the London assembly will also approve this.

“Under Sadiq Khan, we have seen crime sky rocket to unprecedented levels. People in London don’t feel safe and they aren’t safe, 81 murders this year alone! Khan Out.

“Any surplus money raised will be used for a continuing campaign to remove Sadiq Khan from office and also for defending free speech which is constantly under attack.”

It is understood that the balloon will fly over Parliament Square on Saturday from 9.30am to 11.30am.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said: “The City Hall ‘city operations’ team has spoken with the organisers of this balloon and given permission for them to use Parliament Square Garden.

“As always, City Hall has been working in very close co-ordination with the Metropolitan Police and other key agencies to ensure this protest is able to be carried out in a safe and secure way.”

The inflatable depicts Mr Khan lying on his side wearing a yellow bikini.

In 2016, Mr Khan announced that Transport for London would not allow adverts on its network which could create body confidence issues, following a storm over a protein shake poster which featured a model posing in a yellow bikini and asked “Are you beach body ready?”

The crowdfunding campaign hit its target after a week of heavy promotion in July, as Mr Trump prepared to visit the UK.

Fox News and Russia Today covered the campaign, as did conspiracy site InfoWars and Tommy Robinson’s former employers The Rebel Media.

Other early supporters included Katie Hopkins and American anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller.

Links to the campaign featured in pro-Trump internet groups like The_Donald and TheMAGANetwork on Reddit and a Facebook group for conspiracy theorists, QAnon.