LONDON- Efforts by Britain's ruling Conservative party to link the new Mayor of London to Muslim extremism during campaigning for the capital's election were just part of the "rough and tumble" of politics, a senior minister said on Saturday.
As politicians from all sides lined up to condemn his party's tactics in the mayoral race won by Sadiq Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants and the first Muslim to hold the job, Defense Secretary Michael Fallon refused to apologize.
"In the rough and tumble of elections, you get stuff said, questions asked," Fallon told the BBC when asked if he regretted describing Khan as a "Labor lackey" who speaks alongside extremists.