Livingstone denies any problem of anti-semitism
Sadiq Khan: ‘I don’t believe in heroic failure’
Ken Livingstone has denied anti-semitism is a problem within Labour and claimed “lies and smears” against Jeremy Corbyn contributed to the party’s election defeat.
The former Labour MP and mayor of London said “not one” of his Jewish friends in the party could remember an anti-semitic incident.
He also rebutted claims that he said Hitler was a Zionist which led to him being suspended from Labour, and ultimately resulted in his decision to quit the party last year.
Defending Mr Corbyn against anti-semitism allegations, Mr Livingstone told Good Morning Britain: “All my Jewish friends who are in the Labour Party, not a single one of them can remember in their entire time in the party an antisemitic incident.”
Sadiq Khan appears to have ruled himself out of the Labour leadership race, saying he is more interested in winning a second term as mayor of London.
The race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn following Labour’s largest general election defeat since1935isunderway,butmr Khan said he is “absolutely” more interested in continuing at City Hall.
He said yesterday: “I think we showed in 2016 the difference winning elections makes by winning the mayoralty after eight years of a Conservative mayor. We’ve showed over the last four years the difference Labour winning can do.”
The former MP for Tooting won the mayoralty in 2016, following on from now-prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He added: “My focus is on delivering for Londoners and when the campaign begins next year to win the mayoral election, so we can continue improving people’s lives for the better.”
Mr Khan said Mr Corbyn should step away from the leadership “sooner rather than later”, but did not specifically name any potential candidates who would have his support.
Instead, he encouraged the next leader to be reflective about last week’s election results.
He said: “It’s really important for the next leader of the Labour Party to be a winner. We’ve got to start winning general elections, not losing them. I don’t believe in heroic failure, we don’t improve anybody’s lives by losing elections.”