Livingstone facing apology calls
London Mayor Ken Livingstone is facing further calls to apologise today after he allegedly compared a Jewish journalist to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
An emergency motion has been tabled at the London Assembly calling on Mr Livingstone to “apologise and withdraw his remarks immediately.”
The controversy relates to an incident with Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold outside a party on Tuesday night celebrating the 20-year anniversary of former Culture Secretary Chris Smith’s coming out as the first homosexual MP.
There has been a history of antagonism between the Mayor’s office and the Evening Standard, and the paper has produced a tape apparently capturing Mr Livingstone telling the reporter to “work for a paper that doesn’t have a record of supporting fascism” – an historical reference to sister paper the Daily Mail’s apparent pro-Hitler stance in the 1930s.”
Mr Livingstone is caught on tape asking Mr Finegold if he was a “German war criminal”. Mr Finegold replied: “No, I’m Jewish, I wasn’t a German war criminal. I’m quite offended by that.”
The Mayor then says: “Ah right, well you might be, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren’t you?”
A spokesman for the Mayor accused the Evening Standard of “harassment of a predominantly lesbian and gay event”.
The motion in the London Assembly has been tabled by Brian Coleman, the Conservative chair of the Assembly. Mr Coleman said: “The Assembly is here to speak up for Londoners. By calling for this emergency motion that is exactly what I expect it to do. All reasonable people think the Mayor has gone too far.”
“His original remarks were deeply offensive. He then compounded the situation by refusing to apologise.” Mr Coleman added that the incident had been a “failure of civic leadership on his behalf.”
Sally Hamwee, Liberal Democrat deputy chair of the Assembly, reiterated calls for an apology.
She said: “Two weeks ago the Mayor joined in remembrance of the Holocaust and urged that we never forget its atrocity, no more recent acts of genocide. Quite rightly, every week he urges tolerance and praises diversity.
“Mr Livingstone may have been tired and emotional after the party for London’s gay community, but he clearly also forgot that homosexuals were among the victims of the Nazis’ concentration camps. It is inexcusable for him to argue that he was harassed enough by anyone to make comments like these. Not offering an apology compounds this.”
She added that: “The event was a publicly funded celebration and the Mayor was there in his official capacity. London looks to him to behave in a way that is fitting for the figurehead for London.”
The full text of the motion reads: “This Assembly deeply regrets the Mayor’s comments made to Evening Standard Journalist Oliver Finegold and the offence those comments have caused and calls upon the Mayor to apologise and withdraw his remarks immediately.”
Speaking over the weekend, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said that she believed Mr Livingstone should apologise, but that he was not racist or anti-Semitic.
Mr Jowell told GMTV’s Sunday Programme that: “I think he lost his temper because he was door-stepped in an aggressive way.
“I think it is always a good idea that if you lose your temper it is good to apologise for losing your temper.”
The London Assembly is meeting at 10 am on Monday morning. It will also be asked to approve the Mayor’s budget for next year.
