Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has renewed his condemnation of Boris Johnson’s description of officers involved in the Stockwell shooting as “trigger happy”, branding the comments “extraordinary” and calling for them to be “reversed”.
The Mayor’s comments come after Mr Johnson responded to a letter from Labour Assembly Member and Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority Len Duvall declining to withdraw the remarks which were originally made last week on the BBC’s World at One.
In an exchange of letters published yesterday by MayorWatch Mr Duvall urged Johnson to withdraw the comments and accusing him of “a fundamental misunderstanding of policing in the capital”.
Mr Johnson has previously stressed his support for the police calling them “personally extremely brave” but says he had “absolutely no intention” of withdrawing the use of the phrase. In his response to Duvall’s letter Mr Johnson said it was “hard to think of any other description of a catastrophe in which a completely innocent man ends up with seven bullets in his head.”
In today’s intervention Mr Livingstone said this statement was “an extremely serious allegation, to the level of a slur, against the officers of the anti-terrorist squad who daily risk their lives to protect London.”
“It is not negated by Boris Johnson’s acknowledgement of the personal bravery of the officers concerned – Londoners have no need of, indeed would be endangered, by officers who were brave but trigger happy.”
There was also condemnation from One London Leader Damian Hockney AM who, commenting on our earlier story, described Johnson’s letter as a “cack-handed defence” adding “Boris Johnson has even less understanding of policing in London than I’d thought.”
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