Former London mayor Ken Livingstone today quit the opposition Labour Party, saying his 2016 suspension for alleged anti-Semitic comments had become a "distraction" to a party recently dogged by the issue.
"After much consideration, I have decided to resign from the Labour Party," Livingstone said in a statement on his website.
"The ongoing issues around my suspension from the Labour Party have become a distraction." The mayor of the capital between 2000 and 2008 denied that he had "brought the Labour Party into disrepute" or that he was "in any way guilty of anti-Semitism."