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Wednesday 16 April 2008

Evening Standard scare-mongering report carries blatant lies

The Evening Standard has in the past year transformed itself into chief cheerleader for Boris Johnson's mayoral campaign, using spin and hyped-up allegations to goad Londoners into voting for the Conservative candidate.

However, today's front-page headline allegations have gone a step too far and are riddled with outright lies. The Muslims for Ken campaign is a group of Muslim individuals who have come together publicly from all over the Muslim community and who are working with various other communities to support Ken Livingstone's bid to remain Mayor of London. It is totally untrue that the campaign was either founded by Dr. Azzam Tamimi or is "run" or "led" by him.

It cannot possibly come as a shock to Boris Johnson nor the Evening Standard that many individuals from the Muslim community would choose to support Ken Livingstone for Mayor, just as countless members of the black, Afro-Caribbean, Asian, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and other communities have vocally done. The reasons for this are easily apparent to any individual who understands London and the basic qualities required from its Mayor – a record of successfully managing a hugely complex city, an ability to engage with political and economic leaders from across the world and an understanding of London 's complexity and diversity.

The Evening Standard's inaccurate allegations are a clear attempt to distract attention from the fact that Boris Johnson's own record suggests he does not possess these qualities.

Anas Altikriti commented: "The Evening Standard has really demeaned itself by stooping to such lies. Its allegations that we have tried to "vilify" Johnson are curious given that we have merely referred Londoners to Johnson's own writings. It appears that Londoners - and particularly minority communities - are now not allowed to examine Johnson's own record without being vilified and falsely accused."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Evening Standard is a bloodthirsty right-wing paper written by public schoolboys and has no semblence of impartiality whatsoever. I have never such a victimisation of one figure such as the Evening Standard has shown Ken Livingstone.

Thank God it's circulation is in a free-fall.

Vote Ken, because he cares for real Londoners, not those who use London for all they can get from it and then retreat to the home counties.