Ken Livingstone’s appeal against his suspension by the Adjudication Panel for England has reached the High Court.
The suspension was ordered following a row between the Mayor and Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold in which the Mayor was accused to likening Finegold to a concentration camp guard.
The panel found these comments were “unnecessarily insensitive and offensive” and ordered the Mayor to step down for a month. A second charge of failing to respect others was dismissed at an earlier hearing.
At the time of the decision Nicky Gavron, London’s Deputy Mayor called the decision “absurd” adding that “an elected Mayor should only be removed by the law or by the electorate. Not by an unelected body.”
The panel’s decision was suspended pending this week’s hearing.
UPDATE: High Court Quashes Livingstone Suspension – click for more details.
