London Mayor suspended - Nazi jibe

[Guest guest]

was expressing his honestly-held viewLondon's mayor has been suspended from

office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp

guard. The Adjudication Panel for England ruled Ken Livingstone had brought his

office into disrepute when he acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner.

The ban is due to begin on 1 March and the mayor's deputy Nicky Gavron will

stand in for Mr Livingstone. The mayor said: "This decision strikes at the

heart of democracy." He added: "Elected politicians should only be able to be

removed by the voters or for breaking the law. The case tribunal is

concerned that the mayor does seem to have failed... to have appreciated that

his conduct was unacceptable David LaverickPanel chairman"Three members of a

body that no one has ever elected should not be allowed to overturn the votes

of millions of Londoners." Mr Livingstone said he would announce what action he

would be taking next week. The hearing followed a complaint from the Jewish

Board of Deputies, which had not called for the mayor to be suspended over the

comment he made to the Evening Standard's Oliver Finegold outside a

public-funded party. The chairman of the panel, David Laverick, said it had

decided on a ban because

Mr Livingstone had failed to realise the seriousness of his outburst. He said:

"The case tribunal accepts that this is not a situation when it would be

appropriate to disqualify the mayor. 'Architect of own misfortune' "The case

tribunal is, however, concerned that the mayor does seem to have failed, from

the outset of this case, to have appreciated that his conduct was unacceptable,

was a breach of the code (the GLA code of conduct) and did damage to the

reputation of his office." Mr Laverick went on to say that the complaint should

never have reached the board but did so because of Mr Livingstone's failure to

apologise. In a statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said it

regretted the guilty result, but said Mr Livingstone had been "the architect of

his own misfortune" by failing to recognise the upset caused. It added it had

never sought anything more than an apology and an acknowledgement that his

words were

inappropriate for the "elected representative of Londoners of all faiths and

beliefs". 'Outrageous ruling' But Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron said the incident

had been "blown out of all proportion" and described the decision as absurd.

Association of London Government chairman Sir Robin Wales added the "outrageous

ruling" would stall the mayor in his work to increase police numbers and prepare

the city for the 2012 Olympics. Mr Livingstone has said he was expressing his

honestly-held political view of Associated Newspapers, but he had not meant to

offend the Jewish community. HAVE YOUR SAY I'm certainly no fan of Ken

Livingstone but this is a stupid waste of time and money Tio Terry, Epsom

Send us your comments The Evening Standard's editor Veronica Wadley said that

Mr Finegold had behaved impeccably when he was insulted and accused Mr

Livingstone of being stubborn. The London Jewish Forum welcomed the ruling,

with

chairman Adrian Cohen calling for the mayor to create a strategy which would

ensure London's Jews would be treated with respect. Conservative London

Assembly Member Brian Coleman said Mr Livingstone had let Londoners down. All

three called for the mayor to apologise. Baroness Hamwee, Liberal Democrat

chair of the assembly, said she was "quite taken aback" by the length of the

suspension. If an appeal fails, Mr Livingstone will be responsible for paying

his own legal costs, estimated at £80,000. Make sure YOUR emails don't get

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