London Mayor Ken Livingstone was cleared on Thursday of bringing his office into disrepute for likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

But in a ruling at the High Court, Justice Andrew Collins said Livingstone's comments were "unnecessarily offensive".

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Earlier this month, the judge quashed a four-week suspension the Standards Board for England had given Livingstone over his comments last year to journalist Oliver Finegold.

Collins said on Thursday he was also dismissing the charge that Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute.

He noted Livingstone was not on duty at the time he made the comments and was protected by freedom of speech laws.

"Freedom of speech means anyone can be as offensive as they wish provided they do not break the law of the land."

But the judge stressed his ruling was not an endorsement of Livingstone.

"I must make it clear that this decision must not be taken as an indication that the appellant's (Livingstone's) actions were appropriate. They clearly were not.

"His initial question: 'Were you a German war criminal' was obviously intemperate.

"However strongly he felt about the impropriety of the journalist's conduct, the remark was unnecessarily offensive."

Livingstone has consistently refused to apologize for the remarks and said the panel that suspended him had overstepped its remit.

The suspension was delayed by the High Court while the mayor appealed.

Livingstone has said Finegold had been harassing him as he left a function to return home in February 2005.

When Finegold identified himself as working for the Evening Standard, a paper loathed by the mayor, Livingstone asked: "What did you do? Were you a German war criminal?"

Finegold said he was Jewish and found the remarks offensive. Livingstone replied that the reporter was "like a concentration camp guard -- you are just doing it because you are paid to."

The outspoken mayor won election to the newly created post in 2000 after leaving the Labour Party and beating the official Labour candidate.

He has since returned to the party, but has clashed with Prime Minister Tony Blair on Iraq and other issues.