Cameron joins in dogwhistle attacks on Sadiq – here’s four more times the Goldsmith campaign has hit the depths

David Cameron today joined in with the Tory attacks on Sadiq Khan that have been described as “Islamaphobic” by Labour MPs.

At PMQs Cameron accused Labour’s London Mayor candidate of being soft on extremists by sharing a platform with radical Imam Sulaiman Ghani – despite the fact Tory politicians have also been pictured with Ghani, including MP Tania Mathias, health minister Jane Ellison and, er, Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith.

Khan has reiterated his accusation that “the Tories are running a nasty, dog-whistling campaign” in London, and said that he was”disappointed that the Prime Minister has today joined in.” He added that he “will be the British Muslim who takes the fight to the extremists.”

It isn’t the first time that Tory Goldsmith’s campaign has been accused of playing with the issue of race in this contest. Here four more times the Tories have been in hot water on the subject in the London election:

1 – The “radical” leaflets

Khan’s team were deeply unhappy with Tory leaflets that branded the Muslim MP as “radical and divisive”, which they felt were dogwhistle references to Sadiq’s faith.

Goldsmith reacted by dismissing the concerns as “playing the race card”.

2 – Warning ethnic minority voters they could lose their family jewellery

Goldsmith’s campaign sent out apparently targeted leaflets to British Tamil voters warning that a Khan victory could lead to a “wealth tax on family jewellery” – which many saw as buying into a patronising stereotype.

3 – Accusing Khan of speaking alongside extremists

In a pre-cursor to David Cameron’s attack in the House of Commons today, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Khan is a “Labour lackey who speaks alongside extremists”, and described him as “unfit for office”.

Fallon gained notoriety in last year’s election campaign when he accused Ed Miliband of being prepared to “stab the United Kingdom in the back”.

4 – The Boris article

Just last week, Boris Johnson joined the attacks on Sadiq by saying that the Tooting MP has been “pandering to the extremists” in one of the most overt example yet of the Tories trying to paint Khan as having links to radical Islamism.

Despite all that, Khan and his team are determined to concentrate on issues in the final two weeks of the campaign. Responding to the latest attacks, Khan said: “I will keep focusing on keeping Londoners safe, and my positive vision for London’s future – most importantly fixing the Tory housing crisis.”