Susan Hall has launched a fierce attack on Mayor Sadiq Khan in light of the latest grooming gangs investigation. The Metropolitan Police are reassessing 9,000 grooming gang cases in a new investigation, contradicting earlier claims by the London Mayor that no such incidents existed.

Back in January, Hall made nine consecutive attempts during Mayor's Question Time to ask Khan whether gangs were currently operating, or had previously been active, in the capital.

But he repeatedly challenged the former Tory mayoral candidate to clarify what she meant by "grooming gangs", stating, "I'm not clear what she means."

Appearing on TalkTV, a furious Hall hit out at the Labour politician, saying: "Sadiq Khan can't hide any further." Speaking to Mark Dolan, Hall slammed Khan for his responses to her questions about whether grooming gangs had operated in London.

She said: "My job is to scrutinise Sadiq Khan, to ask the question, 'Do we have grooming gangs in London?' For him to say he doesn't know what I mean, I think it says it all. He's in charge of London, he should know what's going on. This was a scandal through the country. You would think he he'd ask his police officers if it was going on.

"I never expected the reaction I got. I expected him to say, 'It's a shocking situation and the Metropolitan Police are doing everything they can to make sure that we find out if they are here.' Instead of that I got, 'What does she mean? What is she talking about?'"

The presenter suggested that Khan's responses were "clearly a political game" and pressed Hall on whether she felt she was being gaslighted.

The 70-year-old fumed: "You shouldn't play political games on things that are this serious and if you spoke to some of the victims, you'd come out crying. The situations these girls have been in have been horrific and nobody has looked after them."

Initially, Mayor Khan asserted that there were "no reports" or "indications" that London was affected by the type of abuse seen in towns like Rochdale and Rotherham. However, in a startling announcement on Friday (October 24) evening, the Metropolitan Police revealed that they are now reassessing 9,000 files.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "Any individuals or gangs exploiting children for sex are utterly abhorrent. Sadiq is quite clear that they must face the full force of the law. These children have not only suffered terrible abuse at the hands of the perpetrators but have been woefully let down by the authorities meant to protect them from harm."

They added: "The Mayor remains vigilant to emerging and changing threats around child exploitation and will continue to support and hold the Met to account to ensure it does everything possible to tackle child sexual exploitation in London."