Ken Livingstone basically just blamed Jewish people for the election result

Ken Livingstone, a man who mentions Adolf Hitler more frequently than Basil Fawlty, seems to have blamed “the Jewish vote” at least in part for the Conservative election triumph.

Despite the fact that Jews represent 0.5 per cent of the population of the United Kingdom, the former London mayor said:

The Jewish vote wasn't very helpful. Jeremy should have tackled that issue far earlier than he did. It looks like the end for Jeremy, which is disappointing for me since I'm a close ally. I'm sure he'll have to resign.

The most extraordinary aspect of all this is the assumption in some quarters that this result happened because the general public were voting in solidarity with Jewish people. In Leave towns, where Brexit is the key issue, plenty of people will likely not have met a Jew in their life - let alone be concerned about their welfare.

Livingstone was suspended from the Labour Party in 2016 following a radio interview in which he said:

When Hitler won his election in 1932 his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews.

The divisions in our society have never felt more pronounced than they do the morning after the night before, but solidarity is essential and we must support those most vulnerable. Livingstone’s comments do nothing to aid this solidarity and hopefully his opinion will not be sought going forward.

More: Everyone needs to read David Baddiel's thoughts on Ken Livingstone's Hitler comments

More: Jewish groups slam Trump for 'antisemitic tropes in speech' – here are all the other awful things he’s said over the years​