Candid Ken

By Justin Cohen - Thursday 27th October 2011


Former mayor's clashes with community over Israel, extremist preacher and concentration camp jibe laid bare in memoirs

Ken Livingstone's views on Israel and his clashes with Jewish leaders over the years were laid bare this week as the former London mayor's memoirs were published.

Top stories

email this page to a friend print this page email the editor buy this content Bookmark and Share
Relations between Labour's 2012 mayoral candidate and the community have long been fractious, with ties becoming particularly strained in the wake of his comparison of a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard while serving as mayor in 2005. And his memoirs, You Can't Say That, are unlikely to do much to encourage community members and particularly supporters of the Jewish state to warm to him in the build-up to next year's mayoral poll.

In the 710-page book, which includes more than 60 mentions of Israel, Livingstone recalled how a book by author Lenni Brenner helped form his views "on Zionism and its history, so I was not going to be silenced by smears of anti-Semitism whenever I criticised Israeli government policies".

He also recounts a meeting with the Board of Deputies many years later in the mid-2000s during which "they asked me to tone down my comments about Israel, and gasped when I said I was already doing so and went on to explain why my opposition to Israel's policies had hardened".

He writes: "I told the Board it would be easier to achieve peace if Israel comes to terms with the crimes committed at its birth... My meeting with the Board of Deputies resolved nothing so we helped establish the London Jewish Forum to concentrate on issues where we could work together to improve life for London's Jewish community rather than debate the Middle East." Although he did go on to work with the LJF, Jewish leaders insisted it was solely the community that set up the body.

And despite his positions on Israel, he recalled a visit to the state at the invitation of the left wing of the Israeli Labour movement during which "interviews went well as journalists discovered I wasn't the anti-Semitic monster I'd been painted".

Turning to the issue of the infamous concentration camp guard jibe, which led to his brief suspension from office, he recounted how then premier Tony Blair asked him to say sorry over the incident, but "I couldn't walk down the street without people urging me not to".

After the suspension was overturned at the High Court, he eventually said he was sorry if anyone was upset by the episode.

However, there was no sign of regret over his 2005 meeting at City Hall with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who had criticised al-Qaeda but has in the past condoned suicide bombings against Israelis. "Although they had never opposed his previous visits to the UK, the Board of Deputies denounced my meeting with him," Livingstone writes. "The Board had never condemned former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who was responsible for the massacres at...Sabra and Chatila."

He adds: "The security services, who know a real terrorist threat from a tabloid fabrication, actually wanted us to engage with al-Qaradawi and Special Branch believed his visit was important in preventing al-Qaeda from recruiting young British Muslims."

Among the other elements of communal interest in the memoir is the recollection by Livingstone of a meeting in the 1980s at the Russian embassy "when Tony Banks and I supported the right of Russian Jews to emigrate. An official said that he would pass our views on but we never got a response".

A source close to the Labour Party said: "Among senior Labour people there was some concern ahead of the book's publication over potential fallout in terms of the Jewish community and next year's election. But there is also a sense that Ken made his bed many years ago on certain issues."

A spokesperson for Livingstone said: "Ken has reflected many of the criticisms which have been made of his decisions as well as his achievements and he has accepted that in public life you learn from your experiences.

"He reflects on how representing Jewish residents in Hackney in the 1980s influenced his support for London's diversity, showing how each person can make their own choices about how they live their lives and participant fully in the life of the community."

Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.

Bookmark and Share