ON THURSDAY Ken Livingstone gave his response to the murders: “It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion.” He has been greeted with a paean of praise, even from his political opponents. And certainly, his words alone expressed the sentiments of all decent people.

But with Mr Livingstone, the words alone are never enough. They may imply one thing, but his actions usually give them a different meaning. When the Mayor of London condemns indiscriminate slaughter, those actions suggest that it is the word “indiscriminate” that needs to be stressed.

Mr Livingstone has repeatedly defended the views of the Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and even invited him to City Hall to share his wisdom. Mr Livingstone has proudly hugged him in public. In doing so, the mayor shows himself to be a keen fellow traveller of a man who can be described with some precision as evil.

Al-Qaradawi is a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood. His fatwas (published on www.IslamOnline.net) influence its millions of followers. In a sermon delivered in March 2003 he instructed his followers thus: “O God, destroy the Zionist, the American, and the British aggressors.” In his weekly al-Jazeera programme he explained that a person engaged in jihad “is not a suicide [bomber]. He kills the enemy while taking self-risk . . . He wants to scare his enemies, and the religious authorities have permitted this.” In an interview last year he said that Islam justifies suicide bombings in Iraq against the US military and in Israel against women and children.

His praise for suicide murders — “Hamas Operations Are Jihad and Those Who [Carry it Out and] Are Killed are Considered Martyrs” — appears on a website linked to the terrorist group Hamas.

Mr Livingstone has a record of giving succour to terrorists. As GLC leader, he met Sinn Fein leaders when the IRA was bombing London regularly.

Sheikh al-Qaradawi has been banned from the US since 1999. Perhaps that is why Mr Livingstone referred to President Bush as “the greatest threat to life on this planet”. Not the likes of the murderers who struck on Thursday, but the President of the home of freedom.

That Mr Livingstone should be praised for his words in the light of Thursday’s murders, while his actions are forgotten, is simply sickening.