Mayor punished for insult

London

An obscure government panel has suspended London Mayor Ken Livingstone for one month for bringing “disrepute” onto his office. The agency cited Livingstone for an incident last year in which he called a reporter a Nazi. When the reporter said he was Jewish, Livingstone, who had apparently been drinking at a party, then compared him to a “concentration camp guard.” Many British politicians, including Livingstone’s political opponents, spoke out against the suspension, and Prime Minister Tony Blair called it “bloody stupid.” It’s unclear whether the panel even has authority over the London mayoralty, which has only been an elective office for about a decade. A High Court judge froze the suspension pending Livingstone’s appeal.

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