Suspension of Ken Livingstone

24 Feb 2006

London's mayor, Ken Livingstone, has been suspended from office for four weeks for comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard. The Adjudication Panel for England ruled that Ken Livingstone had acted in an "unnecessarily insensitive" manner and was found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute.

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, today came to the mayor’s defence saying: “I was very shocked at the decision by the Adjudication Panel. It is completely wrong that an elected politician should be removed from office in this way. It strikes at the very heart of democracy. The only way that an elected politician should be removed from his office is if he actually breaks the law and then the courts should act, but otherwise only the voters should decide.”

Diane added: “The situation has been blown completely out of proportion and the decision to suspend the mayor is quite frankly bizarre. Nobody is saying that Ken Livingstone broke the law in this case and nobody believes that Ken is an anti-Semite. Ken’s reputation as the national politician with the best record for fighting racism of all kinds remains intact. So does that of the organisation he represents. To suggest otherwise is absurd.”

Diane went on: “Not even the Jewish Board of Deputies who brought this complaint against the mayor has called for a ban. Londoners will be shocked and appalled that their mayor can be removed from his office by 3 unelected members of a quango that nobody has heard of and that isn’t accountable to anybody. Democracy is compromised when an unelected panel can overturn the decision of million of voters. No one has done more to fight racism and anti-Semitism than Ken Livingstone and this decision is a travesty of justice.” Diane added: “I hope for Londoners that any appeal lodged is successful. Londoners will want their mayor to concentrate on the things that really matters to them like better transport and safer streets.”

Diane concluded: “I will be raising this most serious matter with ministers and ask that the procedure that led to the suspension of our mayor be reviewed as soon as possible.”

The three-man adjudication panel of the Standards Board for England said the mayor of London should step down from his duties on March 1, but Mr Livingstone has indicated that he may appeal to the High Court.



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