London Assembly chair, Brian Coleman, has tabled a motion calling for the Mayor of London to apologise and withdraw comments he made last week to a Jewish reporter.
Last week Mr Livingstone compared the behaviour of a London Evening Standard reporter to a “concentration camp guard”. When the reporter pointed out that he is Jewish the Mayor replied “Ah right, well you might be, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren’t you?”
Announcing his motion, which was approved at today’s budget meeting of the Assembly, Mr Coleman said: “All reasonable people think the mayor has gone too far. His original remarks were deeply offensive. He then compounded the situation by refusing to apologise.” He branded the Mayor’s behaviour as “a failure of civic leadership in his behalf.”
On Sunday Labour Culture Minister Tessa Jowell also demanded that the Mayor apologise saying that “he has a filthy temper and I think he lost his temper because he was door-stepped in an aggressive way” adding “I think it is always a good idea that if you lose your temper it is good to apologise for losing your temper.”
