London ‘not safe’, claims Reform UK’s Nadhim Zahawi after he’s 'forced to cross street from man who hadn't slept'
Mr Zahawi suggested that if he were Home Secretary, he'd be offering to send the army in.
Reform UK's Nadhim Zahawi has slammed London as unsafe, and told LBC how he had to cross into the road away from a man who looked like he hadn't slept while walking in his "upmarket" neighbourhood.
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Asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast whether he thought the capital city was safe, the former Conservative Chancellor who defected to Reform, said "no".
Mr Zahawi revealed yesterday while walking from his home in a neighbourhood he described as "one of the most upmarket areas of London", that he was forced to walk off the pavement.
He recalled: "An individual walked past me. I literally walked off the pavement into the middle of the road, kept a very close eye at 8am, right, to see whether..."
Nick asked whether the man appeared to be drunk or aggressive.
Mr Zahawi replied: "He just looked at, you know, like, you know, he hadn't slept for, you know, a week and just looked like somebody that might be violent.
"I don't know. But I just walked away from the pavement, and I'm a big guy, and I don't feel safe that my 13-year-old can walk in London. That can't be right."
Mr Zahawi also criticsed the lack of action by police in tackling rape gang crime.
He said: "The reason they never dealt with it at the time, because it's too difficult, because, oh, we might be labelled racist.
"That's why they didn't actually take those poor girls seriously. It's awful, and it happens all the time."
He said he regrets not taking a strong stance on issues during his time in government. Mr Zahawi referred to strong protests against a cinema for "showing a film that offended a group of people".
"[They] then went and were supposed to be coming to talk to him, but of course, all had their faces covered and were very aggressive. They took the film off. Why?" he added.
He said: "I regret not doing this stuff. If I were Home Secretary, I'd be calling the Chief of Police, saying, 'Listen, you know, if you need help, we'll send the army in, right?'
"We have to send a very clear message to every community that you can't just go on the streets and threaten others."
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan responded to Mr Zahawi's comments on London, and called for him look at the capital city's positives.
He told LBC: "I like Nadhim. I've known him for 30 years. But he's got to stop being a pound shop version of Donald Trump."
Sir Sadiq told the Reform party to "grow up" and denied the idea that "our great capital city is this dystopian, lawless London".
He said: "Rather than trying to copy Donald Trump, why not talk about our capital city? We are the tech capital of Europe, the second biggest tech place in the world, cultural capital of the world, the music capital of the world."
"We've got more foreign students in London than any city in the world," he continued. "Last year since records began, we had the fewest number of homicides in London's history.
"Less than Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Toronto, any state in the USA.
"Rather than talking our capital city down, why doesn't the Reform Party behave like true patriots and talk our capital city up instead of copying the ideas of Donald Trump and JD fans? Think for yourself, man."
It comes as Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf told Jim Diamond on LBC News: "I feel very comfortable going down Edgware Road and I see a multitude of people from different backgrounds enjoying shawarma or deciding to smoke a bit of hookah or having a mint tea."
Figures released in January revealed the number of homicides in London dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade.
There were 97 homicides in the capital in 2025, down 11% from 109 in 2024, according to data released by the Metropolitan Police.
This is also the lowest number recorded since 95 homicides 11 years ago, in 2014.
According to the Met, despite London’s growing population in the last decade, last year had the lowest homicide rate per capita on record – 1.1 per 100,000.
This is lower than other major cities worldwide such as New York at 2.8, Berlin at 3.2 and Paris at 1.6 per 100,000, the force said.
However, sexual offences in the capital have risen in the past decade, jumping from 16,147 offences in 2015/2016 to 26,803 in 2024/2025, data from the ONS showed.
Mobile phone thefts have also plagued Londoners over recent years. The number of mobile phone thefts increased from 91,481 in 2019 to 117,211 in 2024.