London Mayor Ken Livingstone began a legal challenge Monday to a one-month suspension for bringing his office into disrepute after making a Nazi jibe to a Jewish newspaper reporter.

Livingstone’s lawyer lodged papers at England’s High Court against a
disciplinary tribunal’s ruling last Friday that his remarks to a London
Evening Standard journalist were "unnecessarily insensitive and offensive".

The 60-year-old is hoping to "stay" or delay the start of the ban, which is due to start Wednesday, until his appeal is heard.

Arriving at the central London court, Livingstone’s solicitor Tony Child
told reporters they were appealing both against the decision that the mayor brought his office into disrepute and the punishment.

"Our contention is that the case tribunal’s decision is inconsistent with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to private life, and Article 10, which protects the right to freedom of expression," he added.

The emergency application to stay the suspension should be heard by Wednesday.

Livingstone has criticised the Adjudication Panel for England’s decision as one that "strikes at the heart of democracy".

The body is an independent tribunal which hears misconduct complaints against local government members.

Concerns have been voiced even among his opponents that an unaccountable, unelected body can suspend an elected politician.

Refusal to apologize

Livingstone’s likening of reporter Oliver Finegold to a concentration camp guard came last February after a party marking 20 years since former culture secretary Chris Smith became Britain’s first openly-gay member of parliament.

He claimed they were triggered by his dislike of Associated Newspapers, which owns the title, and its sister national paper the Daily Mail.

He had argued they referred to the Daily Mail’s reputed support for fascism and opposition to Jewish refugees in the 1930s and to a leaving party thrown for an outgoing editor in which some guests were reportedly dressed as Nazis.

Livingstone -- a former Evening Standard restaurant critic who has long believed he has been the target of a hate campaign by his erstwhile employers -- has steadfastly refused to apologise since the row blew up.

Instead, he has insisted he was using his freedom of expression to state his long and honestly-held political view of Associated Newspaper and had never meant to offend the Jewish community or downplay the Holocaust.

The politician already faces a hefty bill for legal costs in the case,
estimated at more than 80,000 pounds (117,000 euros)