London mayor: Olympic ceremony attack 'nonsense'
By Associated Press
Jul 28, 2012 12:08 PM CDT
Actors lying on beds meant to represent Britain's National Health Service (NHS) perform during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 27, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)   (Associated Press)

London's mayor says a fellow member of Britain's governing Conservative Party was talking nonsense when he criticized the Olympic opening ceremony as too political.

Aidan Burley, a 33-year-old legislator, posted a message to his Twitter account accusing Friday's ceremony of being too "leftie" _ slang for politically left wing _ and criticizing its use of rap music.

Director Danny Boyle's ceremony hailed Britain's National Health Service, begun in 1944 under a center-left Labour Party government, and celebrated the nation's ethnic diversity.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, a member of the center-right Conservatives, said Burley's comments were "nonsense," and the event had left him with "hot tears of patriotic pride."

Burley last year lost a junior government role after he attended a party in France where a guest wore a Nazi uniform.