London – The Mayor of London has not always been on the best of terms with Britain’s Jews. So it will surprise many of his critics to learn that he has been quietly building an extraordinary link with the community — by employing an Orthodox Jewish nanny to care for his two young children.
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Rivka Measey, who lives in a religious neighbourhood in North London, has been working with Mr Livingstone’s family for at least the past six months.
Originally from Australia, Ms Measey currently lives in Hendon, close to Mr Livingstone’s home in Cricklewood, Brent.
She has occasionally been seen out with Mr Livingstone and his family, including at the Simcha on the Square event at Trafalgar Square in October.
The mayor’s most serious skirmish with the Jewish community was in February 2006, when he compared Jewish journalist Oliver Finegold to a Nazi concentration-camp guard.
He has since sought to make peace with the community, offering a publicly apology at the launch of the London Jewish Forum last year. [thejc]
The Hnourable Lord Mayor Ken Livingston[e]’s skirmish with the journalist was only the culmination of a long-running [verbal] battle with the Jewish community of London. Part of it was the embracing [by the mayor] of some of the most radical elements in the Moslem community, who made some highly inflammatory comments about Jews. But the [chusheve] mayor, who [reluctantly] admitted his Jewish ancestry, has apologized since to the Jewish community. So let’s let bygones be bygones!