High Court reprieve for Mayor of London
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Ken Livingstone has been given a temporary reprieve from suspension as London Mayor after a High Court judge ruled that he should remain in office pending an appeal on the ban.
The Mayor was due to begin a four-week suspension today for comparing a Jewish reporter from London's Evening Standard to a Nazi concentration camp guard after the reporter questioned him outside a City Hall party.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Livingstone, nsisting he still had no intention of apologising for his remarks, accused Associated Newspapers, the publishers of the Standard, of waging a vendetta against him because it opposed his "equal opportunities" policies. He said the Associated board had used the allegation of anti-Semitism against him in an attempt to "hush" his criticism of Israel.
Mr Livingstone indicated he intended to take his fight against Friday's decision by the Adjudication Panel for England as far as the House of Lords if necessary.
Mr Livingstone said yesterday: "The fundamental issue is not whether or not I was 'insensitive', it is the principle that those whom the people elect should only be removed by the people or because they have broken the law."