Sadiq Khan calls for Ken Livingstone to be ousted from Labour over 'anti-Semitic views'

Sadiq Khan: The Mayor said there is 'no place for racism' in the party
Reuters
Chloe Chaplain6 September 2017
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Sadiq Khan joined those condemning the decision not to expel Ken Livingstone from Labour and said there is no place for him in the party because his views were "anti-Semitic".

The Mayor of London said Labour has to “do more” after Mr Livingstone was handed a further year-long suspension, rather than expulsion, over his comments about Hitler and Zionism.

Mr Khan told LBC: "I think some of his views were anti-Semitic. Whether he is or not is a different issue.

"I think the Labour Party has got to do much, much more. And I also think there should be no hierarchy when it comes to racism.

Row: Mr Livingstone says he was telling the truth
Lauren Hurley/PA

“Racism is racism - you can't distinguish anti-Semitism from racism, it's a form of racism.

"And if we are going to be zero-tolerant towards racism, Ken Livingstone has got to go."

Pressure to expel Mr Livingstone from the party continued to grow after a disciplinary panel found he had brought the party into disrepute with his controversial remarks.

More than 100 Labour MPs have signed an open letter stating the sanction imposed on Mr Livingstone was a "betrayal" of Labour values.

The hard-hitting letter states: "We stand united in making it clear that we will not allow our party to be a home for anti-Semitism and Holocaust revisionism."

The backlash against the decision not to expel the former London mayor saw leader Jeremy Corbyn announce a new probe by the party's National Executive Committee into his behaviour since the ruling was made.

Row: Corbyn has ordered a new probe into his comments
PA

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said she was "shocked" at the leniency of the sanction and told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The Jewish community are really upset, and quite rightly so.

"We all know the history behind what happened with the Holocaust and it sickens me that the upset and the trauma that has been caused, that's been felt by the Jewish community, hasn't been recognised, actually, by Ken Livingstone and his remarks.

"I want to see the sanction to be zero tolerance, and if that means that he is excluded from the party then that should be it."

A defiant Mr Livingstone insisted he had simply been telling the truth and warned he would take legal action against the party if it tried to exclude him.

He told LBC: "If then there is another hearing, it does expel me, it will go for judicial review and it will be resolved in a court which is open to the press and public unlike these Labour disciplinary things which take place in private."

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