So, Ken Livingstone is back and once again challenging to be Mayor of London. The man who has enjoyed more comebacks than Status Quo is set to race Boris to be Mayor in the 2012 election, although comments he has made this week might not do him any favours.
Ken appears to have fallen foul of something called Godwin’s Law. The law broadly states that given enough time in any discussion, regardless of topic, someone inevitably brings up Hitler or the Nazis in order to make their point.
A popular corollary to Godwin’s law is that once such a comparison is made, the debate is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress. And that’s what Ken appears to have fallen foul of this week.
The 66 year old former Mayor told Total Politics magazine that next year’s contest for London’s top job was “a simple choice between good and evil”.
Ken said: “I don’t think it’s been so clear since the great struggle between Churchill and Hitler. The people that don’t vote for me will be weighed in the balance, come Judgement Day.”
Sigh.
The Sun reports that Livingstone’s aides say his comments were light-hearted and meant in “a spirit of good humour”. (Oh yes. All the best comic lines from dinner parties and social events involve comparing people to Hitler and telling people that don’t agree with you that they are likely to be condemned to eternity in hell.)
Critics claimed they were in “incredibly poor taste” after last week’s riots and showed him to be “a nasty, divisive character”.
Tory MP Gavin Barwell said: “Londoners need a mayor who will unite our city. It is crass even by Ken’s standards…”