BRITAIN’S LABOUR PARTY has suspended former London mayor Ken Livingstone in a heated row over anti-Semitism.
Party officials said that Livingstone was suspended for “bringing the party into disrepute” after he made comments defending a Labour MP who had shared anti-Semitic posts on social media.
His suspension came after a heated morning and afternoon as Livingstone sought to qualify comments he had made about Hitler and Israel.
However, he was confronted by furious Labour Party colleagues as well as a pack of journalists on his way to a media interview at Westminster.
Here is Labour MP John Mann calling Livingstone a “disgusting racist”.
(If you can’t watch the video, tap here).
The BBC reports that the row began following the suspension of Labour MP Naz Shah over comments she had made about Israel on social media.
Livingstone gave an interview to BBC London saying that he had never heard anyone in the Labour Party say anything anti-Semitic.
He then said:
Let’s remember, when Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel.
He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.
And one of my worries is this confusion with anti-Semitism and criticising the Israeli government policy undermines the importance is tackling real anti-Semitism.
Outrage
The comments sparked outrage in the Labour Party, and more than 20 MPs called for Livingstone’s suspension.
He was confronted by Mann on his way to another interview at Westminster’s media studios.
In an interview with BBC’s Daily Politics, Livingstone said that Hitler was a ”a monster from start to finish” but that he had been quoting historical “facts”.
The circus continued then as Livingstone left Wesminster and was asked questions by journalists. He reportedly escaped by hiding in a disabled toilet.
He eventually made his getaway, followed by a pack of journalists (and a barking dog).
(If the video isn’t working, tap here)
Soon after that, he was officially suspended from the Labour Party. The Guardian quotes a Labour spokesperson as saying:
Ken Livingstone has been suspended by the Labour party, pending an investigation, for bringing the party into disrepute. The chief whip has summoned John Mann MP to discuss his conduct.
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