In December, the Evening Standard reported TfL Deputy Chair Daniel Moylan saying: “He [Mr Livingstone] is schizophrenic. I’m not calling him a liar but he is misleading the public and he is kind of misleading himself.”
The comment was made just days after TfL signed up to the Time to Change Pledge, committing it to helping stop the stigma associated with mental health issues.
Mark Davies, Director of Communications for the charity Rethink Mental Illness, called the remark “bizarre and absolutely inappropriate”
Calling for Moylan to apologies, Davies said: “You would never hear a public figure using any other kind of illness as a term of abuse like this. Schizophrenia is a serious illness, not a casual insult, frankly we expect more from people in the public eye.”
Assembly Members Jenny Jones and Jennette Arnold both tabled written questions, asking the Mayor what action he had taken over the remarks.
In her question Arnold, a Labour party AM, quoted from a letter from a constituent asking whether Johnson would “ask Mr Moylan to apologise for the offence he has caused”.
Green party AM Jones also asked the Mayor what action he would take “on this and other cases to make good on TfL’s pledge?”
The Mayor has failed to provide any details of action he has taken, or to confirm he has sought an apology for the remarks.
In response to both questions he said: “Cllr. Moylan had no intention of causing offence to those living with mental health issues.”
Commenting on the Mayor’s answer, Jones said: “It’s a pity that Boris hasn’t taken this opportunity to either apologise on his advisor’s behalf, or ask the advisor to apologise directly. It was a low attempt to smear another politician, but it has ended up smearing Boris and his campaign instead.”
