Ken Livingstone #racist

Ken Livingstone #racist standard.co.uk

Ken Livingstone was today suspended from Labour in disgrace after plunging the party into a new anti-Semitism storm.

The former London Mayor sparked fury by claiming that Adolf Hitler was “supporting Zionism” before he “went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”.

During a surreal few hours in Westminster, Jeremy Corbyn's close ally also spoke of a “well-orchestrated campaign” by “the Israel lobby” in comments that immediately provoked a wave of criticism.

A Labour spokesman said: “Ken Livingstone has been suspended by the Labour Party, pending an investigation, for bringing the Party into disrepute.”

He was later confronted by furious Labour MP John Mann, who branded him a Nazi apologist and accused him of "rewriting history".

A Labour spokesman said Mr Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, has now been summoned to Chief Whip Rosie Winterton to explain his actions.

Mr Livingstone's suspension came after Labour's current mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan, led calls for him to be kicked out of the party.

8 comments

old comment by Yossarian Lives

@Demon Duck Of Doom:

It's the consequence of years of blanket ignorance on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party due to the left's position on Israel and pandering to the nuttier Islamic factions. I, of course, support the right to criticise Israel and the desire to enable Muslims to partake in British politics and the wider British society, but there are nasty anti-Semitic supporters of the party whose views have been able to permeate through to the more moderate factions due to the left's inability, as a whole, to distance themselves from the nastier elements who share some common ground, even if their opinions are more extreme. These anti-Semites go beyond criticism of Israel and into a dislike of its existence, attacks on Jews and sharings of common tropes and historical falsities that are used by the far right. This blindness to the problem has risen to the fore now that Labour has elected Jeremy Corbyn, who has a history of hyperbolic criticism of Israel and alliances with anti-Semites, so it's no surprise that some of his allies are now being found out.

Unfortunately, for many Labour supporters, anti-Semitism isn't therefore an issue, because they associate comments such as Ken's as being legitimate criticism of Israel, not anti-Semitism.

For a Labour supporter not bought into the Corbyn fanaticism, such as myself, news stories like this cause me to lose hope in the party and I am now somewhat politically homeless.

old comment by Hasan Prishtina

Livingstone made the comments on the basis of the Transfer Agreement of 1933, by which Zionists sought to get Jews the hell out of Nazi Germany and Nazis sought to get rid of Jews. By that time, the Nazis ensured that Jews could not hold jobs in public service, foreign-born Jews were stripped of their German citizenship, Jewish shops were boycotted and Jewish books were being burned. The Nazis had also set up concentration camps and were rounding up people on the far left like Livingstone. All this, according to Livingstone, was before Hitler "went mad."

@ Yossarian Lives

Alas, I can only agree. I spend part of the year in London and I know a lot of people who feel the same as you. I also know a few who think this is all a conspiracy to do down Corbyn, as if the most incompetent British party leader in living memory needed any assistance. Take courage that one day this nightmare will be over.