would not hesitate to do it but it would require me to be a liar. I could
apologise, but why should I say words I do not believe in my heart?
Therefore, I cannot. If that is something that people find that they cannot
accept, I am sorry genuinely that they feel that way but this is how I feel on
the receiving end of nearly a quarter of a century of them and their policies
and their behaviour and their tactics. Therefore I cannot say to you words I
would not believe in my own heart.”
10.
On that day, 14 February 2005, the Board of Deputies of British Jews made a formal
complaint to the Standards Board for England. It stated:“The complaint relates to the widely reported and broadcast statements of
Mayor Livingstone in the course of an exchange with Evening Standard
reporter Oliver Finegold. In particular the Mayor commented as follows:– On hearing the name of the paper for which Mr Finegold was reporting,
Mayor Livingstone asked Mr Finegold if [he] was or had been a ‘German War
Criminal’.
– In response to Finegold’s reply “No, I’m Jewish, I wasn’t a German war
criminal. I’m quite offended by that”, Mayor Livingstone says: ”Ah right,
well you might be, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard,
you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren’t you?”
It is the complainant’s contention that:– Mayor Livingstone’s references to ‘German War Criminal’ and
‘concentration camp guard’ were entirely unwarranted and unjustified in the
circumstances and had no bearing on or relevance to the exchange with Mr
Finegold;
– Such comments were particularly offensive given that Mr Finegold stated
that he was Jewish and that they were made at an event for predominantly Gay
Men and Lesbians, given that Jews and homosexuals were victims of the Nazi
concentration and extermination camps;
– In making such comments Mayor Livingstone demonstrated a gross
insensitivity to and a wilful disregard for the feelings of, appreciable numbers
of those he is supposed to represent as holder of the office of Mayor of
London, including but not limited to Jews and gays and lesbians in London.
In light of the above it is the complainant’s further contention that Mayor
Livingstone, by reference to the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by the
Committee on Standards in Public Life:– Failed to ‘promote and support these principles by leadership and example’.
– Failed to act objectively, with integrity and in the public interest by allowing
his personal antipathy to the Evening Standard newspaper to influence his
actions and statements.
– Should be ‘accountable for [his] … actions to the public and must submit
[himself] to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to [his] office’.”