Ken Livingstone. Photo: wiki commons.

Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London and a candidate to become the city’s next mayor, is engaged in a political fight with British Jews over the acceptance of money from Iran’s state television channel, and comments he made at a recent meeting, stating that as a group, British Jews “are too rich” to vote Labour.

Livingstone is a member of Britain’s Labour party, the country’s most prominent liberal party.

“Ken toward the end of the meeting stated that he did not expect the Jewish community to vote Labour as votes for the left are inversely proportional to wealth levels, and suggested that as the Jewish community is rich we simply wouldn’t vote for him,” wrote a group of Labour party members to Ed Milliband, the party’s leader.

At the meeting in question, Livingstone affirmed his decision to support radical Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi and accept money from Press TV, Iran’s state run television channel.

“The real and more pressing issue is that of the strong perception that Ken is seeking to align himself with the politics of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime, whilst at the same time turning a blind eye to Islamist antisemitism , mysogynism, and homophobia,” the letter states.

Jewish leaders will meet with Milliband later this month.  Livingstone’s acceptance of Iranian money and his comments regarding the Jewish vote are expected to be near the top of the agenda.