Tony Arbour accused of attempting to gag his political opponents
The row surrounding Conservative London Assembly Member Tony Arbour’s comments in which he reportedly described social housing as, "housing for riff-raff" at a recent Council committee meeting shows little sign of abating.
Liberal Democrat South West London Assembly candidate Stephen Knight now claims Arbour has resorted to “legal bullying tactics in an attempt to gag reports of the meeting.”
He said "Arbour did describe social housing as "housing for riff-raff". He first apologised at the meeting for using such language and a day later tried to claim that he had been quoted out of context, which I strongly contest.
"Now in a desperate u-turn he has changed his story yet again and denies even saying it at all, instead claiming that I used the phrase and he simply regretted its use during the meeting. This is clearly not true and he knows it. I will not be bullied by Arbour's legal strong arm tactics. We will not be bullied for telling the truth."
Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, also called on Tony Arbour to apologise for his comments and to reverse his longstanding opposition to the target that 50 per cent of all new homes in London should be affordable.
He said, “There is a clear account of what Tony Arbour actually said in the Richmond and Twickenham Times. It is quite clear from this that his remarks were unacceptable - and his desperate attempts to explain them away after the event do not hold water.
However, Tony Arbour AM maintains his words have been "taken out of context" saying "These claims about me are libellous and without foundation. I utterly refute the allegation that I said social housing is for riff raff.”
October 10, 2007
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