Panic about antisocial behaviour and theft has broken through from social media to boardrooms and diplomatic circles
“Just visit London and you’ll see that it’s filled with crime,” the tech billionaire Elon Musk said as he was beamed into Tommy Robinson’s far-right rally in the UK capital last September.
The comments by the SpaceX and Tesla boss, part of a roving speech that was later condemned by the UK government, added to a growing wave of anti-London disinformation that has spread in recent months. That includes Donald Trump’s notorious comments of London “no-go zones” and Nigel Farage’s warnings against wearing jewellery after 9pm in the West End.
But the panic over antisocial behaviour and petty crime plaguing the capital has burst out of rightwing circles and social media platforms and into City boardrooms and diplomatic meetings, raising the hackles of state officials and influential financial sector bosses who fear that, if left unchecked, trade, recruitment and business investment could suffer.
“Nobody’s saying ‘it means that I won’t invest in the City’,” said Susan Langley, the City of London’s mayor. “But anything that undermines the City has the potential to undermine business. Which is why I went out and said we need to start countering this.”
