Sadiq Khan has said he has been left with mental trauma due to a combination of the regular death threats he receives as London mayor, as well as dealing with the aftermath of disasters and terror attacks.
In an interview with the Guardian, Khan described it as a “cumulative” type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while stressing he was not equating it to the PTSD endured by refugees or people who had faced similar experiences.
Khan, who will fight for a third term as mayor next year and said he hoped to serve multiple more times, also set out the toll that Covid had placed on his mental health, saying he “lost my mojo” during lockdown.
“I didn’t have clarity of thinking. I wasn’t so sparky. I wasn’t inspiring my team,” he said.
Such is the level of threat against Khan since he became mayor in 2016, all the more so after being attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump, he described his round-the-clock security as being “the same level of protection the prime minister and the king receive”.
He said the threats had affected his mental health, along with dealing with the aftermath of the deadly Grenfell Tower fire and terror attacks in London.
Khan said he had concluded he was experiencing a “cumulative” version of PTSD, saying a friend who is a doctor had told him this was the case.