Ken Livingstone defends his extremist backer

Ken Livingstone defended his decision to share a platform with a homophobic Islamic preacher as he and his challenger, Boris Johnson, were neck and neck in the race for the capital yesterday.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi has described homosexuality as an "unnatural and evil practice" and said the Koran permitted wife-beating in certain circumstances.

Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone during a televised debate
The Qatar-based Egyptian cleric has also advocated the use of Palestinian children as suicide bombers and once claimed that Asian tsunami victims were punished by Allah because their countries were centres of perversion.But speaking on BBC1's Politics Show yesterday, the London Mayor insisted he was right to welcome the cleric to City Hall as an "honoured guest" in July 2004. He said that while he did not agree with some of his views, al-Qaradawi did not support terrorism against the West. "He is a man who is prepared to say al-Qa'eda is wrong and to be very strong in that condemnation," he said.

Mr Livingstone's liberal approach to controversial figures such as al-Qaradawi has won him a friend in Azzam Tamimi, a Palestinian supporter of Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
Mr Tamimi is part of a group called Muslims 4 Ken, which is aiming to mobilise Muslim voters to help re-elect Mr Livingstone for a third term on May 1.
The group has accused Mr Johnson of being an Islamophobe and a racist. One article, written after the July 7 London bombings and entitled "Islam is the problem", has drawn particular criticism.

But Mr Johnson insisted yesterday that he believed Islam was a "religion of peace" and the problem was extremists taking the words of the Koran out of context.
"The problem is people who wrench out of context quotes from the holy book of Islam, the Koran, and use it to inspire evil in men's hearts," he said, during the Politics Show debate between the mayoral candidates.
Mr Johnson also used the opportunity to raise concerns about uncontrolled immigration to the capital.

Research commissioned by a Sunday newspaper now puts Mr Livingstone just one point ahead of Mr Johnson - on 45 per cent and 44 per cent respectively - but gives a dead heat, on 50 per cent each, when second preferences are considered.

haha wake up mr johnson...