Livingstone backs Whale over 'vote Boris' sacking

Defeated London mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone has defended James Whale, the veteran radio presenter who was fired from Talk Sport for urging listeners to vote for Boris Johnson.

The DJ was sacked by Talk Sport after comments made during his show on 20 March, which prompted a handful of complaints to regulator Ofcom. The station terminated his contract after deciding there had been a breach of the Ofcom code. The code bans presenters from showing bias towards a political party before an election.

But Livingstone, in an interview with Broadcast, said that the rules for press and broadcast media "have to be fair".

"You've got to have a rule, but it must be the same for everybody. It seems the press can pretty much get away with saying what it wants about an individual," Livingstone said, referring to the Evening Standard's campaign against him in the run-up to the elections.

"James Whale just told listeners who he was backing and he got sacked for it. Granted, he said it a number of times, but it's still not fair."

He also cited the case of Virgin Radio being fined £75,000 after Chris Evans publicly stated he was donating £200,000 towards Livingstone's first mayoral campaign in 2000.

Livingstone also said that he agreed with Whale's call for regulations governing speech radio to protect the integrity of outspoken presenters.

Whale thanked Livingstone for his honesty and support, but told Broadcast he could not comment further on the circumstances of his dismissal.

Livingstone has joined LBC as a talk show host and said he would "certainly not" hold back from airing his own political views when he begins hosting his show later this year.

"Absolutely no chance," he said. "Why would they bother having me on the show otherwise?"