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Boris Johnson apologised again over race issues today after he was accused of condoning an article that claimed black people have a lower IQ.

The Tory mayoral candidate came under fire from Ken Livingstone and a leading black lawyer over pieces published in the Spectator magazine when he was editor.

In one, columnist Taki wrote that "Orientals ... have larger brains and higher IQ scores. Blacks are at the other pole." In another, he described black American bastketball players as having "arms hanging below their knees and tongues sticking out".

When asked today if he had condoned the articles, unearthed by black newspaper-New Nation, Mr Johnson told the Standard: "I am sorry for what was previously written as it does not reflect what is in my heart.

"Ken Livingstone has nothing positive to say about the future of London, or the wave of criminal violence that has cost the lives of 11 young people killed on our streets this year, or yet another strike on our Tube which will disrupt millions of commuters next week, so he has again resorted to negative personal attacks."

But the Mayor seized on the articles as further proof of Mr Johnson's lack of commitment to a racially diverse city like London.

Mr Livingstone, who appeared alongside Martin Luther King's son yesterday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his assassination, said: "Such statements are completely unacceptable and Boris Johnson as editor of the Spectator should never have let them appear. It shows that Boris Johnson has no adequate understanding of what it means to lead a great multicultural and multi-ethnic city.

"Taki is basically an unpleasant racist-bigot. You just don't give anyone like that a job. If you're happy for that sort of crap to come out in a magazine you're editing, you can't really claim to be fit to represent the most culturally and racially diverse city on earth."

The Tory candidate has apologised for articles he had written in which he referred to black children as "piccaninnies" and to the "watermelon smiles" of Africans greeting foreign visitors.

Mr Johnson insisted he "loathed and despised" racism and said his words, written more than five years ago, had been taken out of context. Aides suspect that the Livingstone camp will use the race claims in a desperate last bid to hold on to office.

He told New Nation last week that he had been on holiday when an article in the Spectator claimed that Caribbeans were "multiplying like flies".

Barrister Courtenay Griffiths, QC, said: 'It is surprising that a columnist in the UK could be displaying such Neanderthal attitudes, and you have to call into question Boris Johnson's judgment as editor of the Spectator."