Press Release

Statement on legal proceedings against the Mayor by Mr Aleksander Boyd
9-6-2006   305

‘The Greater London Authority has now received papers from Aleksander Boyd claiming that he was defamed by the Mayor of London during comments made at Mayor's Questions on 17 May 2005.

‘The Greater London Authority received no notice of this case prior to the lodging of the papers with the court.

‘The comments made by the Mayor alleging that Mr Boyd supported violence against the democratically elected government of Venezuela came after Mr Boyd had sought to organise a meeting in City Hall with the office of London Assembly member Bob Neill on the same day as the visit to City Hall of President Chavez.

‘All of the Mayor's comments were based on Mr Boyd's own stated written views. ‘Mr Boyd's position on the use of violence is clear.

‘Mr Boyd has also never denied that he described the writer Tariq Ali as ‘that Paki journalist’, which originally appeared on the 'Caracas Chronicles' website. We note that although the Mayor made specific reference to Mr Boyd’s comments about Tariq Ali he has not included this matter in his defamation claim.

‘Mr Boyd's claim will be vigorously contested and we hope to have it struck out at the earliest opportunity.’

Notes to Editors

* Mr Boyd has written:

‘The more the time elapses, the blunter the constitutional violations of the regime, the more I become convinced that the sole way of effectively opposing Chavez is through violence.’ (10/10/04) http://www.vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200410101107

‘Yesterday I had a conversation with someone about Venezuela and its problems. Given the peculiar characteristics of our crisis, my interlocutor asked “what’s the solution then?” And I replied “when elected politicians treat one as an animal, how on earth can be expected that one behaves as a gentleman? The solution in my view is clear and simple: violence.’ (2/11/04) http://www.vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200411020559

‘The other question that daunts me is, how can democracy be protected from itself? What mechanisms has the layman to simply kick out of office pariahs such as Chavez? The answer is none, and since there is no democratic mechanisms in place, violence is the only recourse left.’ (2/11/04) http://www.vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200411020559

‘Re: advocating for violence yes I have mentioned in many occasions that in my view that is the only solution left for dealing with Chavez.’ (21/3/05) http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2005/03/21/two_parties.php

Terms and conditions

Accessibility

Privacy 

Freedom of information