±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Inspectors from the International Olympic Committee arrived in London yesterday to evaluate the capital's £25m campaign to host the games.

At a press conference yesterday Livingstone said he would not apologise, saying he had no need to.

"You can make the case that my remarks were offensive and they may be actionable but you can't make the case they were racist. I am not going to apologise if I do not believe I have done something wrong. I am not going to appease media pressure by lying," he said.

"I could apologise but why should I say words I do not believe in my heart? Therefore I cannot."

Speaking on Five's 'Wright Stuff' show, the prime minister added his voice to those calling for Livingstone to apologise.

"Let's just apologise and move on," Tony Blair said.

Supporters of the London bid have criticised Livingstone for his refusal to apologise to the Evening Standard reporter, saying the row is distracting attention from the IOC's four-day visit to evaluate whether London would be a suitable host for the games.

In a recent poll London and Paris were neck-and-neck to win the bid, with Madrid, Moscow and New York considered outsiders. The 2012 bid marks the third consecutive time Paris has attempted to win the games and the first for London in the past 12 years.

Jewish groups and the culture and media secretary, Tessa Jowell, have also asked the mayor to apologise to the Jewish reporter to whom he made the comment, which has been labelled anti-Semetic.

The two exchanged words following a party marking 20 years since Labour's Chris Smith, who recently revealed he was HIV positive, came out as the first gay MP.

Livingstone is said to have told the reporter that he should work for a paper "that doesn't have a record of supporting fascism". The comment was a reference to the Standard's sister paper, the Daily Mail, which in 1934 ran a front-page story declaring "Hurrah for the Blackshirts".

The Evening Standard, which splashed the story in its morning edition, quoted Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen death camp survivor Gina Turgel MBE as saying "perhaps the mayor does not understand the pain we went through".

Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, told the paper that Livingstone should consider his position.

"These words are appalling. His insensitivity seems to know no bounds. He should consider his position as mayor of this great city," Grunwald said.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the <a href="/" target="_blank">Forum here