Nazi row mayor: No regrets
LONDON, England -- London Mayor Ken Livingstone says he will not apologize or express regret for likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi "concentration camp guard."
He told a news conference that after a week of reflection and reading all the media reports of the row, he had decided to stand his ground.
However, he told the British capital's Jewish community he did not mean to offend them when he likened an Evening Standard reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
Livingstone said letters sent to him had run three to one in favor of his stand.
"I have been deeply affected by the concern of Jewish people in particular that my comments downplayed the horror and magnitude of the Holocaust," he said.
"I wish to say to those Londoners that my words were not intended to cause such offence and that my view remains that the Holocaust against the Jews is the greatest racial crime of the 20th century.
"A week ago I said it was not my intention to apologize to the Daily Mail group journalist or his employers.
"Upon a further week of reflection in which I have read everything written in the press about this controversy and after considerable debate with many Londoners, I have decided to stand by that position. There will therefore be no apology or expression of regret to the Daily Mail group." (Full statement)
Livingstone's statement failed to placate critics.
Leading Jewish Parliamentarian Lord Greville Janner said it was "very disgracefully wrong of him" not to have apologized. Lord Janner told Sky News that the mayor should resign.
Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts said he thought it "weird" and "odd behavior" that Livingstone had failed to apologize.
"It casts light on the character of the guy who is an elected politician," he told Sky News.
A formal investigation has been launched into Livingstone's comments to London Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold.
The Standards Board for England, the local government watchdog, was considering whether the Labour mayor breached the Code of Conduct of the Greater London Authority.
If found to have failed to treat others with respect, the London mayor could face a range of punishments including being barred from office for five years.
After the outburst two weeks ago, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Transport Minister Tony McNulty, a range of politicians from different parties, Holocaust survivors and Jewish community leaders all called on Livingstone to apologize.
He was also accused of harming London's chance of hosting the 2012 OIympics.
Livingstone made his remarks after a party at City Hall marking 20 years since former Culture Secretary Chris Smith became Britain's first openly gay member of Parliament.
When Livingstone was asked by Finegold, whether he had enjoyed the party, the mayor likened him to a "German war criminal."
When Finegold told him he was Jewish and found his remarks offensive, Livingstone said: "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?"
He also told the reporter to "work for a paper that doesn't have a record of supporting fascism" -- a reference to the Daily Mail in the 1930s.
Livingstone defended his actions, saying he had been the victim of a hate campaign lasting almost 25 years at the hands of the Evening Standard and the Daily Mail, its sister paper.
"I have spent my entire life fighting against racism -- whether against Jewish people, black people, Asians or anyone else," he said.
A statement on behalf of the Evening Standard Tuesday said: "The Commission for Racial Equality, the main parties in the London Assembly and the Holocaust Memorial Trust have all expressed grave concerns and the prime minister has called on Mr. Livingstone to apologize.
"Yet Mr. Livingstone's arrogant remarks today were no such thing. His only words of contrition, aimed at the Jewish community, were that his words "were not meant to cause offence". This is a nonsense: they did -- and it should have been obvious that they would.
"His attack on the Evening Standard is an attack on democracy: as London's paper we strive to be independent and to represent the range of political opinion in the capital.
"Mr. Livingstone's supposed attempt to draw a line under the matter today has done nothing to mend the hurt caused by his original remarks. Worse, it has reinforced the impression that he has contempt for some of the key institutions that sustain London's democracy."
Were you a German war criminal? Actually you are just like a concentration camp guard.
