He has been most unwise, says Labour woman

Leading commentators and political figures today rounded on Ken Livingstone after his trenchant refusal to apologise. Mr Livingstone faced a renewed barrage of calls for an apology after he said he had "not intended to cause offence" but then refused to retract his comparison of Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold to a concentration camp guard.

Many of those responding to his statement at a press conference today also called for his resignation and said he was not fit to be Mayor of London.

Among the howls of protest, leading members of the Jewish community accused Mr Livingstone, who repeatedly attacked the Standard and its sister paper the Daily Mail, of ducking the issue and labelled his comments "beyond belief ".

Jewish community

Jon Benjamin, director general of Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "It was a very full and carefully worded statement, but there was no apology to the wider Jewish community for the offence he has caused. You can't equate Mr Livingstone's treatment at the hands of the press with the suffering of those who died in the Holocaust. We will leave it up to the Standards Board to decide if he is fit to Mayor."

Ned Temko, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, said: "Ken Livingstone didn't answer the charges against him. He went off on a tangent and talked about something else. He should apologise because he said something offensive. I would say this if he had offended a member of any other ethnic community be they Sikh, Hindu or Muslim."

Leading Jewish Parliamentarian Lord Janner, a former war crimes investigator, said it was " disgracefully wrong of him" not to have apologised and said the Mayor should resign.

He said: "The Mayor's response was sad, wrong and disgraceful. I am concerned with what he said about this Jewish journalist rather than what he said about Associated Newspapers. He is not entitled to say this journalist was like a concentration camp guard. Concentration camp guards were the most evil people in history.

"Of course he should apologise, I have been calling on him to do so for a week and there were rumours that he was going to apologise today. But he did not, and that is dreadful. He is fit to be Mayor in the sense that he has been a very good Mayor for London, but he should have the decency to admit it when he's done something wrong."

Danny Stone, campaigns organiserfor the Union of Jewish students, said: "Despite the great offence he has caused, Mr Livingstone has still failed to apologise. He will certainly not be welcome at the NUS annual conference."

Geoffrey Alderman, professor of History at the American Intercontinental University of London, said: "He said something stupid and he should withdraw it. I think Mr Livingstone has a problem towards London Jewry and in a multicultural society he's probably not fit to be mayor.

Political figures

David Cairns MP, chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, said Mr Livingstone's refusal to apologise was regrettable: "He should have done the sensible thing. He's acknowledged he has caused offence and he should apologise for it. He's being completely obdurate. People are not going to forget this."

Labour MP Louise Ellman, the chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said Mr Livingstone's statement was unsatisfactory: "I think he has been most unwise. His attitude has deeply offended the Jewish community and others."

Sally Hamwee, Liberal Democrat deputy chair of the London Assembly, said: "Ken Livingstone does not behave like a statesman. The Mayor is attempting to turn himself into a victim rather than the offender. His attempts to justify his comments compound the offensiveness. A withdrawal of these comments and an apology, however late, would have salvaged some credit and showed that he was able to act as the senior politician the mayoralty requires."

Commentators

Peter Tatchell, the gay rights and left wing human rights campaigner who helped Mr Livingstone on his 2000 mayoral election campaign, said he did not agree with his response. Mr Tatchell said Mr Livingstone was right to express regret for causing offence to the Jewish community: "It is a pity it has taken a week, but better late than never. He is not anti-Semitic but his remarks were offensive to Jews, gays and the disabled." He said he should apologise to Oliver Finegold because his questions were "inoffensive".

On whether Mr Livingstone is fit to be Mayor, he said: "His policies have benefited our city, but these remarks were wrong. His recent behaviour has alienated many Londoners who previously respected and supported him. The Mayor's explanation that he was defending the gay community from media harassment came across as patronising. Gay people don't need the Mayor's protection to fend off a journalist asking simple questions."

Peter Oborne, political editor of the Spectator, said he was not satisfied with the Mayor's response and he thinks the mayor should apologise.

"Ken Livingstone has shown he is unfit to be Mayor of London. It is shameful that a man like him is mayor of a great capital city. I am amazed and I simply cannot understand how Nicky Gavron can remain Ken Livingstone's deputy following his astonishing failure to withdraw his disgusting remarks."

Daily Mirror columnist Brian Reade said: "In this era of insincere apologies, when Tony Blair will apologise for everything from the Black Death to the latest bombing atrocity, I think it's fair enough. If he doesn't feel capable of apologising I would prefer he didn't apologise."

Johann Hari, columnist for The Independent newspaper, said: "Ken Livingstone is an outstanding Mayor and has been reelected twice. The people of London want him to be Mayor. When there are real and rising problems of anti-Semitism in this country, it is an insult to the victims to talk about this in the same breath."

Sunday Times columnist Jasper Gerrard said: "It's ridiculous that he hasn't apologised. It shows an amazing lack of grace and lack of sensitivity. I think he is showing his immaturity and people will start to question whether he is fit to be Mayor."

Simon Heffer, columnist for the Daily Mail, said: "I don't agree with what he said. Having worked for Associated Newspapers as a columnist for the past 15 years, I know full well it is not an anti-Semitic or racist corporation and it is preposterous of him to say so. Indeed, he did not seem to think so when he was taking money from the Evening Standard as a restaurant critic.

"He should resign immediately. He insults Associated Newspapers and the thousands of people who work for the company and for him to say such gratuitous and stupid things about this newspaper company casts grave doubts on his judgement and common sense. I do not think this man, with his idiotic, bigoted views, is fit to run this great city of London."

Racial watchdog

A spokesman for the Commission for Racial Equality, which has already asked the Standards Board for England to investigate Mr Livingstone for a possible breach of the Race Relations Act, declined to comment.