Labour's candidate for London mayor, Ken Livingstone, has admitted that he can now see why comments made to Labour activists earlier this month were interpreted as saying Jews would not vote for him because they are rich.

London's Green Party voters are being asked to back Labour in the second preference slot at May's mayoral elections.

The mayoral election uses the Supplementary Vote system, under which voters rank their choices of candidates.

Ken Livingstone's "erroneous, wrong and offensive" claim that Jews won't vote Labour because they are rich has been condemned by a Labour Party candidate for the Greater London Assembly.

EXCLUSIVE

Ken Livingstone, Labour's candidate for Mayor of London, held a secret meeting earlier this month with Jewish Labour supporters, the JC can reveal.

Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has reflected on his fraught relationship with British Jewry in his newly-published memoirs.

In You Can't Say That, Mr Livingstone details long-running disputes with the Board of Deputies, explains his views on Israel, and recalls the infamous evening when he told a Jewish journalist he was "just like a concentration camp guard".

Ken Livingstone is facing criticism and calls for his expulsion from the Labour Party after he appeared to be campaigning against the party’s candidate in Tower Hamlets.

Former MP Oona King has pledged her support for Ken Livingstone in his fight to win back the London mayoralty after he soundly beat her for the Labour candidacy to take on Boris Johnson.

Mr Livingstone, whose two previous terms as mayor saw him open a rift with the Jewish community, will challenge the Tory incumbent in 2012.

Ms King lost her Bethnal Green and Bow parliamentary seat to George Galloway, following an acrimonious campaign in 2005.

Since then she had worked as a Downing Street adviser to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Former MP Oona King has backed Ken Livingstone to regain the London mayoralty after he beat her for the Labour candidacy to take on Boris Johnson.

Mr Livingstone, whose two previous terms as mayor saw him open a rift with the Jewish community, will take on the current Tory incumbent in 2012.

Ms King polled 31 per cent of the vote on her return to the political spotlight. She lost her Bethnal Green and Bow parliamentary seat to George Galloway following an acrimonious campaign in 2005.