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Lawyer : Livingstone meant no offence to Jews with 'Nazi' jibe

Updated: 15/Dec/2005 18:14

London Mayor Ken Livingstone as he leaves a disciplinary hearing

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London mayor Ken Livingstone never meant to offend Jewish people by comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration guard, his lawyer said Wednesday.

His remarks to a journalist from London’s Evening Standard newspaper were instead triggered by his dislike of Associated Newspapers, which owns the title and its national sister paper the Daily Mail, and its alleged support for anti-Semitism, lawyer Tony Child said.

The anti-Semitism claims -- made by Livingstone during a February 22
response to the controversy -- refer to a leaving party thrown for an outgoing Daily Mail editor in which some guests were reportedly dressed as Nazis.

He also referred to the Daily Mail’s support for facism and its opposition to allowing Jews fleeing European pogroms to come to Britain in the 1930s.

"What Mr. Livingstone was doing when he made the statement which has led to this hearing is to reflect his long-held and, it’s accepted, honestly held political view of the Mail group," Child told a disciplinary hearing in central London.

"An apology may be relevant to mitigation, but a lack of an apology cannot determine liability."

Livingstone, who was not at Wednesday’s hearing, is facing charges that he failed to treat others with respect or had brought his office into disrepute.

If found guilty, he could be banned from office for five years, ordered to make an apology, suspended, made to undergo training or be censured.

When Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold approached Livingstone at a public function in February, the mayor asked him whether he had ever been a "German war criminal".

On hearing that Finegold was Jewish, Livingstone likened him to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

The publicised remarks led to calls from Jewish groups, concentration camp survivors and politicians, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, for an apology, but none has been forthcoming.

Despite once being the newspaper’s restaurant critic, there is no love lost between Livingstone and the Evening Standard, which the mayor believes has waged a lengthy hate campaign against him.

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