Ken Livingstone Refuses To Say Sorry For Hitler Comments But Says He Regrets Uproar

'I’m never not going to say what I believe to be true.'

Ken Livingstone has refused repeatedly to apologise for his comments about Hitler but said that he does regret the uproar they have caused so close to election time.

Speaking on LBC, Livingstone insisted that his remarks were true, adding: "All my life I've said what I believed to be true, and I'm not going to change that now."

He added: "I’m never not going to say what I believe to be true."

Ken Livingstone refused to say sorry for his remarks about Hitler
Ken Livingstone refused to say sorry for his remarks about Hitler
LBC

He insisted that because Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu made similar comments, it couldn't be anti-Semitic.

An increasingly frustrated Michael Crick and David Mellor desperately tried to press him to say sorry but the former London mayor was resolute.

A remarkable 30 minutes of radio as Ken took a grilling over his Hitler/Israel comments. Watch it all back: https://t.co/HWuSbgwZRr

— LBC (@LBC) April 30, 2016

The closest he came was when he said: "I’m sorry because of all the uproar and wasted time."

This was later followed by: "If anyone has been upset by this of course I'm sorry."

The reaction online to his comments somewhat incredulous...

Ken Livingstone's @LBC interview in full pic.twitter.com/c992V2VpB8

— Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) April 30, 2016

Now Ken Livingstone drags in not just Hitler but PM of Israel in defence of his case (whatever it is). Fire. Petrol. Pour.

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) April 30, 2016

Ken Livingstone digs himself further into the 'brown stuff' this am on @LBC He really is incredibly obstinate and incredibly stupid.

— David Hiom (@djhiom) April 30, 2016

I know I'm tweeting obsessively about Livingstone but THE MAN WILL NOT SHUT UP. It's just mesmerising. Why isn't someone stopping him?

— Sarah Kate (@SarahKate26) April 30, 2016

Ken Livingstone's LBC interview right now in a gif pic.twitter.com/PQ3KSTdGcZ

— Asa Bennett (@asabenn) April 30, 2016

Lost on Thursday in Central/North London areas. The plot. Please return to Mr K Livingstone ASAP. Or even sooner.

— Peter Smith (@Redpeter99) April 30, 2016

The former London mayor was roundly condemned after he said Hitler supported Zionism before he went “mad” and engineered the Holocaust.

He was suspended from the Labour Party over the comments, which he made after MP Naz Shah was suspended on Wednesday over tweets linking Israel to Hitler.

Following the debacle, Jeremy Corbyn has launched an action plan to address anti-Semitism and other forms of racism within the Labour Party.

He will launch an independent inquiry into anti-Semitism and racism which will be led by Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of human rights organisation Liberty.

Corbyn said he will also be proposing a new ‘code of conduct’ on anti-Semitism to the party’s national executive committee next month, Sky News reported.

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