Fury at Ken race slur

Ken Livingstone is under growing pressure today to apologise after comparing an Evening Standard reporter who is Jewish to a "German war criminal".

The London Assembly announced the Mayor will face an emergency motion on Monday demanding he withdraw his remarks.

It came as both the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a leading Tory assembly member said they were set to refer Mr Livingstone to the official local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England. This has the power to suspend him for a year or ban him from public office for up to five years if he is found to have brought the office of Mayor into disrepute.

Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies, said: "I would ask that the standards board considers this latest outburst."

Brian Coleman, the Conservative chairman of the London Assembly, said a motion on the Mayor's conduct would be considered at its annual tax-setting meeting on Monday morning. He said: "All reasonable people think the Mayor has gone too far. He needs to apologise to the many people he has offended and withdraw his remarks."

The Mayor's attack on Standard reporter Oliver Finegold happened outside a party at City Hall to celebrate the decision by former culture secretary Chris Smith 20 years ago to come out as being gay.

The party was covered by the Standard as part of our normal reporting of London life. We received no complaints from guests about our presence. Only three days previously Mr Smith had been a guest of honour at the Evening Standard film awards.

Mr Smith himself spoke to the paper as he left City Hall, and agreed to be pictured with partner Dorian Jabri because he "liked the Evening Standard". When Mr Livingstone was asked by Finegold whether he had enjoyed the party, the Mayor likened him to a "German war criminal".

After Finegold told him he was Jewish and found that remark to be offensive, Mr 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?" Mr Livingstonehas refused to withdraw his remarks.

His spokesman accused our reporter of harassing gay and lesbian guests and swearing at the Mayor. A taped recording of the conversation on Tuesday night shows neither claim is true. Today Mr Livingstone faced a chorus of outrage over his remarks, which many believe belittle the suffering of the victims of Nazism and undermine the position of London Mayor.

"Perhaps the Mayor does not understand the pain we went through," said Gina Turgel, a Polish Jew who survived the Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen death camps.

Ms Turgel, who was chosen to lead the Queen to her Westminster Hall seat at the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony, said: "I am quite a placid person, but this makes me so angry. How can a man in the Mayor's position make light of the Holocaust? Particularly when as a nation we have just taken time to remember the horror of the past."

Lord Janner, a former Labour MP and ex-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, found Mr Livingstone's remarks "totally disgraceful". He said: "I am going to take this up with him personally and immediately."

Louise Ellman MP, of the Labour Friends of Israel group, called for a reprimand from the Greater London Authority.

Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: "It's disgraceful to use a reference to the period of the Holocaust as a way of abusing people today."

She pointed out the insult coincided with a report showing a dramatic rise in attacks on Jews.

A Jewish protection agency, the Community Security Trust, recorded 532 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK last year, 311 of them in London. This was up 42 per cent on 2003.

The Mayor's remarks came just days before an International Olympic Committee team arrives in London to scrutinise the capital's Olympic bid.

Tony Arbour, vice-chairman of the Greater London Authority standards committee, said: "He may have singlehandedly ensured London will fail to win the 2012 Olympics. I shall be asking my committee and the Standards Board for England to investigate his disgraceful behaviour."

Brett Lock, spokesman for gay rights group Outrage, said: "It seems the Mayor is trying to play minorities off against each other."

Asked about the incident, Mr Livingstone said: "When you make it quite clear you don't want them to interview you and they follow you, constantly badgeringyou with questions, you have the right to make it clear that they are not welcome."

Asked if he would apologise to Finegold, Mr Livingstone said: " Absolutely not. If he isn't happy he shouldn't be working for a paper like that. You can't expect to work for the Daily Mail group and have the rest of society treat you with respect as a useful member of society, because you are not."