Conservative Party leader David Cameron has attacked Ken Livingstone after the Mayor criticised race relations chief Trevor Phillips.
Mr Phillips, head of the Commission for Racial Equality and former Labour Mayoral hopeful and Member of the London Assembly, has recently suggested multiculturalism should be ditched.
This led to the Mayor boycotting a CRE event which was originally to host a session entitled “Rivers Of Blood: did Enoch Powell get it right?”. The name was eventually changed.
Speaking at the Ethnic Media conference today Mr Cameron branded the Mayor “an ageing far left politician” who he accused of wanting to confine the debate on race and equality to “a narrative about race that sees people from ethnic minorities as potential agents of revolutionary change.”
The Tory leader repeated past pledges to “broaden the base” of his party.
Relationships between the Mayor and Mr Phillips have long been bumpy. In 2000 he backed the ill-fated Mayoral bid of former Health Secretary Frank Dobson.
Mr Dobson was was ulitmately defeated by Livingstone who ran as an independent candidate following claims that the Labour party selection process had been fixed against him.
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Livingstone Responds to Cameron Race Attack