Ken Livingstone has stood by his claim that a hedge-fund boss giving money to Labour MP Dan Jarvis was like Jimmy Savile funding a children’s group, saying it showed his colleague was not “genuinely Labour”.



The former London mayor escalated the controversy amid speculation that Jarvis is planning to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership after he took the £16,800 donation from Martin Taylor and made a wide-ranging speech about the future of the party.

Livingstone, a strong supporter of Corbyn, subsequently made the Savile comparison on LBC, prompting a string of Labour figures to condemn the remarks.

Alan Johnson, the Labour former home secretary, said Livingstone should “keep his trap shut”, while Ian Austin, another Labour MP, said it was “disgusting”.

But Livingstone stuck to his comments, saying no Labour MP should be taking money from the hedge-fund industry.

He told BBC News on Friday: “All hedge-fund managers want is to know that they’re going to have a prime minister who’s going to allow them to continue to evade tax, and it’s totally unacceptable for hedge-fund managers to be contributing to anyone in the Labour party.

“No one in the Labour party who’s genuinely Labour would want to take a penny from them.”

Pressed on his choice of words, he said: “It’s meant to be deliberately provocative because I’m saying to Dan Jarvis if you want to be a serious player in the Labour party, don’t mix with these people, they’re sick.”

When asked about the comments John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said that “Ken is Ken” while also welcoming the contribution that the “honest and decent” Jarvis is making to Labour.