Either this controversy has still not died down, or Livingstone is preparing to carry through on his threat to have Qaradawi back. Note his dubbing this advocate of jihad and suicide bombing as a “progressive.” From the BBC:
Ken Livingstone has justified his decision to welcome a controversial Muslim cleric to London last year….
Mr Livingstone told a press conference on Tuesday: “When you get a progressive figure who is moving that religion in the correct direction you engage and you develop it.
‘Engage with cleric’
“And I don’t agree with the position of Dr Qaradawi on lesbian and gay rights.
“As I said before we won’t be seeing him on the next Pride march but here is the force that we need to engage with if we are to actually get a dialogue between the west and the Muslim world.”
Mr Livingstone caused controversy when he embraced the cleric at a meeting in City Hall in July.
Leader of the London Assembly Conservatives Bob Neill condemned Mr Livingstone’s support for the cleric.
He said: “He is the type of man Mr Livingstone should, like us, be condemning not cosying up to. It’s utterly unacceptable.”