Mr Khan said: "We've got fewer police officers now than any time since 2003, while the population has risen by two million.

"Are the police worried about the lack of numbers? The answer is yes.

"Our police work so hard. They are under-resourced and over-stretched.

"We need more officers and so I'm using City Hall money - council tax and business rates - to recruit more, but we need central government to give us more support to reverse the cuts made.

"In the eight years before I became mayor, Boris Johnson never raised council tax to pay for police. In my first three years I've raised council tax the maximum I'm allowed to do by law to divert it to the police.

"Our police is funded by roughly 80% by central government and 20% by other sources. It's now gone down to 70% from central because I've raised other sources, but I can't fill the massive hole left by £1 billion of cuts."

He also argued that London's police force were using their stop and search powers in the way Mr Johnson favours but that there were too few officers left.

He also said the "preventative side" of fighting knife crime such as youth clubs had been slashed due to cuts.

Mr Khan also stated he had written to Mr Johnson after the former Mayor was elected by Conservative Party members, but said he had not yet spoken to him since he took office.

The London mayor also gave his views on Mr Johnson's first two weeks in office and branded the new Prime Minister a "liar".

He also said he has filled his cabinet with ministers who have "seriously obnoxious views", while he also expressed concern over the possibility of a no deal Brexit.

In the interview he also addressed his ongoing spats with US president Donald Trump and said: "I have no idea what Donald Trump has against the Muslim Mayor of London."
He described the president as "the poster boy for the far-right, racist movement around around the world," and added: "My worry is we don't realise some of the things he has said and done because of normalisation," pointing to Mr Trump's racist comments about Mexicans, the proposed Muslim travel ban, as well as the ban on transgender people serving in the American armed forces.

Mr Khan said: "We've all got to be vigilant to the fact that you've got the President of the USA who has views that are paraded by terrorists in Christchurch, by terrorists in El Paso, by terrorists in this country and by terrorists all over the world.

"That should worry us."

Reacting to Mr Trump's Twitter criticisms about him, and whether he baits him, Mr Khan said: "I challenge you to find any tweet that I've done proactively saying anything about Trump.

"In fact, the man's obsessed with me - I'm seriously worried.

"I'm the Mayor of London, I'm quite busy and haven't got the time to check my Twitter, let alone take the time to respond.

"This guy is President of the USA and if you get the chance, count how many times he's tweeted about me."