The Labour party has suspended Ken Livingstone “for bringing the party into disrepute” after MPs accused him of antisemitism and making offensive comments about Hitler supporting Zionism. The former mayor of London and veteran politician said that the accusations of antisemitism were part of a campaign against the Labour leader. “Frankly, there’s been an attempt to smear Jeremy Corbyn and his associates as antisemitic from the moment he became leader. The simple fact is we have the right to criticise what is one of the most brutal regimes going in the way it treats the Palestinians” Livingstone has refused to apologise, saying that those who criticise Israel should not be confused with antisemites. Prime minister David Cameron meanwhile said it was “clear Labour had a problem with antisemitism”. The Guardian reports: In his first comments on the row engulfing Labour, Jeremy Corbyn said: “We are not tolerating antisemitism in any form whatsoever in our party.” More than 20 MPs, including Sadiq Khan, Labour’s current London mayoral candidate, had called for Livingstone to be expelled over the remarks he made while trying to defend the suspended Bradford MP Naz Shah. The party’s chief whip has also called in John Mann, a [...]
