Mayor Ken Livingstone was yesterday cleared of disrepute but told his comparison of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard was “indefensible”. A High Court judge quashed the mayor’s four-week suspension for his comments to Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold and overturned an earlier ruling that he had breached the City Hall code of conduct.

But Justice Collins made clear the entire case – estimated by the mayor to have cost £250,000 – could have been avoided if he had apologised. The judge said: “This decision is not an indication that, in my view, the appellant’s (Livingstone’s) actions were appropriate. I’m quite clear they were not. It’s to be noted that if he had apologised, I very much doubt whether any proceedings would have been taken.”

In a 15-page judgment, Justice Collins said it had been “unnecessarily offensive” for the mayor to first ask Finegold if he had been a “German war criminal”. He added: “When he knew that Finegold was particularly offended because he was Jewish, to go on to compare him to a concentration camp guard was indefensible.”

The judge ruled that the code of conduct had not applied at the time of the mayor’s exchange with Finegold, in February last year, because he was off duty as he was leaving a City Hall reception. Outside the court yesterday, Livingstone said: “I think it’s an incredibly sensible judgment. I was really impressed by the common sense approach the judge took.”

Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: “The judge clearly recognised that Ken’s remarks were offensive and an apology was in order. It’s now time for Londoners to move beyond this saga. A full apology from Ken will greatly aid this process.”

The incident occurred as Finegold attempted to interview guests attending a publicly-funded reception. Finegold introduced himself as an Evening Standard reporter and asked the mayor how the evening had gone. The 35-second exchange was tape recorded by Finegold.

The furore prompted by the remarks led to calls from Tony Blair for the mayor to apologise. But he refused to do so, saying it would make him a “liar” and that he could not say words he did not believe in his heart.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews lodged a complaint with the local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England. Its investigation led to the Adjudication Panel for England ruling in February that the mayor had been “unnecessarily insensitive and offensive”, and had brought his office into disrepute.

It imposed the four-week suspension, which was put on hold pending yesterday’s outcome of the High Court appeal.

GT