Offending car salesmen by comparing them to US Ambassador

Guardian:

Ken Livingstone's jibe that the US ambassador was like a "chiselling little crook" for avoiding the congestion charge landed him in further political trouble today as he was reported to the standards board.

The London mayor is currently appealing against an existing ruling from the local government watchdog for likening a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard.

He now faces a second possible investigation from the board, after a complaint was made by a little-known pressure group, Liberty and Law.

Their director, Gerald Hartup, said the mayor's remarks yesterday were "clearly an attack on good community relations" and also potentially offensive to car salesmen.

Mr Livingstone made the off-the-cuff comment while giving his opinion of the US embassy's decision not to make its diplomats pay the £8 daily congestion charge when driving into the centre of the capital.

The embassy says it is a local tax and therefore, under the Vienna Convention, does not apply to foreign diplomats.

...

We wouldn't want to insult the car salesmen while making gratutious insults of a major ally.

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