20 October 2006
London's controversial mayor Ken Livingstone has been cleared by a High Court judge of bringing his office into disrepute after he likened a Jewish reporter to a Nazi. Justice Collins said that Livingstone's remarks to the "Evening Standard" reporter Oliver Finegold had been "offensive" and "indefensible". But the judge ruled that it was unwarranted for the Adjudication Panel for England to have him temporarily suspended from office. Collins stressed that although the remark was offensive, the mayor had the right to freedom of speech in a democratic society and to express his views "as forcibly as he thought fit". Livingstone, who was facing bankruptcy if he lost the case, responded: "I think it is an incredibly sensible judgment." The mayor made the remarks when Finegold approached him after a reception at London's City Hall in February 2005. On hearing that Finegold was Jewish, Livingstone likened him to a concentration camp guard. This sparked protests from Jewish groups and the Conservative party opposition. Livingstone never apologized for the statement.
