Ken Livingstone suspended indefinitely from the Labour Party for alleged antisemitism
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Loading... - Kelly Cable
- 02 Mar 2021
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Ken Livingstone has been indefinitely suspended from Labour over his alleged anti-semitism.
Outgoing General Secretary, Iain McNicol has used a rare power to impose an "administrative suspension".
It is understood that McNicol, who is standing down after seven years in the post, wanted to make sure the Mr Livingstone could not be reinstated without an internal inquiry.
The former London mayor was suspended for two years from April 2016 for claiming Adolf Hitler was supporting Zionism in the early 1930s.
But Mr Livingstone continued to make similar remarks after his suspension prompting Jeremy Corbyn to call for a further inquiry but that had not been launched ten months on.
Mr McNicol's decision means Mr Livingstone will not be able to automatically return to the party until the party's National Executive Committee disputes panel makes a decision on his case, either to acquit him or refer up to the National Constitutional Committee.
HuffPost reported that MPs warned that there would be “departures” if Livingstone’s suspension was allowed to be lifted in April.
Wes Streeting MP, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Jews said the decision was "welcome but long overdue".
He said: "Almost a year has passed since Jeremy Corbyn announced that Mr Livingstone's conduct would be subject to further investigation with seemingly little action by the National Executive Committee.
"It should not have required eleventh hour action by an outgoing General Secretary to indefinitely suspend him.
"It is time for decisive action from the NEC and the Party's leadership: not just to expel Mr Livingstone for his gratuitously offensive remarks about Hitler and Zionism and his subsequent lack of remorse, but against all antisemites and their apologists infesting the Labour Party ."
A Labour spokesperson said: “Ken Livingstone has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending the outcome of an internal Party investigation.
“That suspension starts on the date that his membership suspension applied by the National Constitutional Committee ends on 27 April 2018.”
