LIVINGSTONE'S FAILURE TO WITHDRAW COMMENTS 'COMPOUNDS OFFENSIVENESS'

12.17.07pm GMT Tue 15th Feb 2005

Commenting on Ken Livingstone's refusal at his weekly press conference to offer an apology for his comments to a reporter outside City hall last week, Liberal Democrat London Assembly member, Sally Hamwee, said:

"Mr Livingstone's attempts to justify his comments compound its offensiveness. Anyone who did not live under the Nazi regime can understand its horrors. To describe being hounded by a newspaper as in any way equivalent to that persecution is extraordinary.

"A withdrawal of these comments and an apology, however late, would salvage some credit and would show that the Mayor cares for the reputation of London government."

ends