Yesterday the High Court quashed the decision of the Adjudication Panel for England to suspend Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.
That suspension was brought about after a row between Livingstone and Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold in which the Mayor was accused to likening Finegold to a concentration camp guard.
Weeks of outraged comment – some genuine, some seemingly less so – ensued. The man who in the 80’s was branded ‘Politically Correct’ by the right wing media was now accused of racism and bigotry by those same titles.
Yesterday Jack Straw publicly commented on his policy of asking veiled Muslim woman attending his surgeries to remove their veil. This too has prompted a series of skewed media reports, outraged comments and accusations of bigotry – more than a few from the rent-a-quote mob.
Respect MP George Galloway has even reportedly called for Straw to resign.
Both Livingstone and Straw are elected officials who rely on the support, anyone is entitled to take offence at their comments and vote for someone else. Neither should be bullied from office by a mob or suspended by a near anonymous panel of appointees.
