A Biography of Ken Livingstone

A Biography of Ken Livingstone, Born June 17, 1945, Lambeth, London,

Kenneth Robert Livingstone is a politician who became Mayor of London on the creation of the post in 2000. He was previously Leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until it was abolished in 1986. After abolition he became Member of Parliament for Brent East, but was quoted as saying being in the House of Commons was not enjoyable & made little impact there. Livingstone has strong left-wing views, which caused him to be nicknamed " Red Ken " in the early 1980s. He is a member of the Labour Party, but was initially elected to the mayoralty as an Independent candidate when he could not gain the Labour Party's nomination in the first mayoral elections. In January 2004, he was re-admitted to the party & stood as the official Labour Party candidate for mayor in the June 2004 elections, which he won with a total of 828,380 first & second preference votes.

Early & private life Livingstone was born in Lambeth, London, & has described his parents as " working class Tories ". He married Christine Pamela Chapman in 1973 but they were together for only a few years & the marriage ended in divorce in 1982. Around this time he became involved with Kate Allen, now director of Amnesty International in the UK, but the couple separated in November 2001. Livingstone & his current partner Emma Beal, also his office manager, have a son, Thomas, born December 14, 2002 at the University College Hospital, London, & a daughter, Mia, born on March 20, 2004 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. Livingstone is a noted bon vivant, having worked as a food critic for magazines owned by both the Hearst Corporation & Associated Newspapers. He is well known for keeping & breeding newts. Livingstone attended Tulse Hill Comprehensive School. He worked for eight years as a cancer research technician & also trained as a teacher, qualifying in 1973 but never actually teaching. Livingstone joined the Labour Party in 1968 at a time when party membership was falling & few new young members were joining, & therefore rapidly rose in the local party. He was elected to the Lambeth Borough Council in May 1971 & served as Vice-Chair of the Housing Committee from 1971 to 1973 (succeeding John Major in the job). At the 1973 elections Livingstone won the Norwood electoral area on the Greater London Council & served as Vice-Chair of Housing Management in 1974-1975, being dismissed when he opposed spending cuts being urged by council leader Sir Reg Goodwin. He also served on the film censorship committee & urged the abolition of censorship. Coming up to the 1977 elections, Livingstone realised that it would be difficult to retain his seat & managed to be selected for Hackney North & Stoke Newington, a safe seat, following the retirement of Dr David Pitt. This ensured that he was one of the few left-wing Labour councillors to remain on the council. Livingstone had been selected as a the Labour Parliamentary candidate for the Hampstead constituency. He moved to Camden just before the deadline to stand for the council in 1978, & was elected there. Livingstone's performance in Hampstead in the 1979 general election was good, although he did not come close to winning the safe Conservative seat. While on Camden council, Livingstone gave permission for a strike by local government workers during the Winter of Discontent to be settled with a high pay offer; the District Auditor later ruled this amounted to illegal expenditure & a breach of fiduciary duty, but Livingstone was not surcharged.

GLC leadership
When Sir Reg Goodwin retired as leader of the Labour group on the GLC in 1980, Livingstone had performed surprisingly well in a leadership election to succeed him but still lost to the moderate Andrew McIntosh. In the GLC election of May 7, 1981, Livingstone moved to the marginal constituency of Paddington. The Labour Party narrowly won control, having been led through the campaign by McIntosh who said that he would not be deposed. The day after the election, Livingstone challenged McIntosh for the leadership, & defeated him by 30 votes to 20. This was the culmination of a long process in which the left had organised to ensure its members were selected as GLC candidates, & all voted as a block within the Labour Party. They had also ensured that the left had control of the Labour manifesto for the election.

The GLC then reduced bus & London Underground fares, paid for by a special 'supplementary rate' in a policy known as 'Fares Fair'. Although the measure was generally popular & led to an increase in the use of public transport, it was challenged by the Conservative-controlled of Bromley Council where there were no London Underground stations, & struck down as unlawful by the Law Lords in December, 1981. Despite his defeat in the fares battle, Livingstone would remain a thorn in the Conservatives' side, openly antagonising the Thatcher government by posting a billboard of London's rising unemployment figures on the roof of County Hall, the GLC headquarters, directly across the Thames from the Palace of Westminster. Under Livingstone, the GLC pursued a variety of unconventional & controversial measures: sponsoring an 'Antiracist Year,' providing city grants to such groups as 'Babies Against the Bomb', & declaring London a 'nuclear-free zone'.

Livingstone made perhaps his most controversial move in December 1982, when the GLC extended an official invitation to Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams & Danny Morrison. In the event, Adams & Morrison were denied entry into the country under the Prevention of Terrorism Act & met with Livingstone in Northern Ireland instead. When Adams was elected to Westminster, the ban was lifted. After meeting him, Livingstone said that Britain's treatment of the Irish over the last 800 years had been worse than Adolf Hitler's treatment of Jews. Livingstone's support for Irish republicanism made him a target for loyalists: in 2003 it was revealed in Michael Stone's autobiography that there was a Ulster Defence Association plot to kill Livingstone while on the Tube, though it came to nothing as the UDA agent (revealed in 2006 to be Stone himself) became convinced the security forces were on to him.

Such actions made Livingstone a favourite target for the press. He acquired the nickname 'Red Ken' & The Sun in their frightening at times undemocratic amount of power, described him as 'the most odious man in Britain'. Though later he was able to say its was the sun that did not win it, when it opposed him hugely but candidates still lost to him in the late 1990s, and early 200s, a astnonishing achievement, you can bet few far right cnadidates have been condemmed as much, and the media would be claiming they were martys just for minor critics of the, buit the left won a election depsite mass ahte and disgust from the far right establishent sections v it.. Private Eye dubbed Livingstone Leninspart, partly in response to his earlier toppling of McIntosh. However, Livingstone favoured European integration & proportional representation, neither of which were particularly popular causes among the British left at that time. When several Labour councils (including Militant-controlled Liverpool) protested against the government's rate-capping policy by refusing to set a property tax rate, Livingstone refused to join the campaign because he knew the GLC could run its services while keeping within capping limits. The GLC had already lost all central Government grant by 1983. Many on the left regarded Livingstone as having sabotaged the campaign & it led to a personal rift with John McDonnell, who had been Finance Chairman & Deputy Leader. Livingstone's preference for practical politics, which was being demonstrated at a time when the rest of the Labour left were more interested in theoretical debates, may in part explain why his popularity grew. Other politicians identified as the 'hard left', such as Tony Benn, found themselves increasingly isolated from the general public. The Conservative Party won the 1983 general election with a large majority, & forged ahead with their long-standing plan to abolish the GLC & devolve control to the individual boroughs. The GLC mounted a massive campaign to 'save London's democracy,' while the proposed abolition bill faced opposition from politicians on all sides, including the former Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath, who had introduced the six other Labour-controlled metropolitan councils which were also to be abolished. On August 2, 1984, Livingstone & three other Labour councillors resigned, forcing byelections that they intended to serve as a referendum on the abolition issue. John Wilson, the Labour Chief Whip, served temporarily as Council Leader. However, the Conservatives cannily chose not to contest the byelections, & the voter turnout was far smaller than Livingstone had hoped for. On December 15, 1984, the House of Commons passed the Local Government Act of 1985 by a relatively slim twenty-three vote margin. The GLC was formally abolished at midnight on March 31, 1986.

Livingstone again stood for Parliament in the 1987 general election, winning a seat in the north-west London constituency of Brent East. As a mere Labour backbencher, Livingstone lost the public platform he possessed as head of the GLC; furthermore, his brand of radical socialism was increasingly out of step with the Labour leadership, which had moved sharply towards the centre under the leadership of Neil Kinnock who now blamed left-wingers like Livingstone for Labour's 'unelectability.' Over the long term, though, it was Livingstone rather than Kinnock who was to achieve electoral success. In September 1987 he was elected to the party's National Executive Committee, although he lost this position two years later (he regained it in 1997 in what some interpreted as a rebuke to Tony Blair). He was re-elected MP in the general election of 1992, with a 6% swing to Labour in his Brent East constituency. Besides serving in the Commons, Livingstone held a number of other 'odd jobs' during this period, including game show contestant & host, after-dinner speaker, & restaurant reviewer for the Evening Standard. In 1987 he published an autobiography-cum-political tract, If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It.

As a politician comfortable in light-hearted & satirical situations, in 1990, Livingstone made the first of seven appearances on the topical panel show Have I Got News For You. For a long time, his first six appearances would stand as the show's record; his current tally of seven - the last being in 2002 - fall one short of the record for guest appearances currently held by Germaine Greer & Will Self. In 1995, Livingstone appeared on the track "Ernold Same" by the band Blur, taken from the album The Great Escape. Livingstone provided spoken word vocals & was listed as 'The Right On Ken Livingstone.' Livingstone appeared in one of a series of advertisements extolling the virtues of cheese in the 1980s, appropriately endorsing red Leicester. On the other side of politics, Edward Heath advertised Danish Blue. (The colour red is associated with the Labour Party, & blue with the Conservative Party.)

Greater London's first mayor
Livingstone was again re-elected in the 1997 general election, in which Labour was returned to power under the leadership of Tony Blair. Among Labour's proposals was the establishment of a Greater London Authority which was to be a strategic body: unlike the GLC the Greater London Authority would not provide any services to Londoners directly. The new Greater London Authority would be headed by a directly-elected mayor, who would be watched over by a 25-member Assembly.

Despite having earlier criticised the specific proposals for a new London-wide authority, Livingstone was widely tipped for the new post of Mayor. The mayoral election was scheduled for 2000, & in 1999, Labour began the long & trying process of selecting its candidate. Despite Blair's personal antipathy, Livingstone was included on Labour's shortlist in November 1999, having pledged that he would not run as an independent if he failed to secure the party's nomination. William Hague, then Leader of the Opposition taunted Blair at Prime Minister's Question Time: "Why not split the job in two, with Frank Dobson as your day mayor & Ken Livingstone as your nightmare?"

Labour chose its official candidate on February 20, 2000. Although Livingstone received a healthy majority of the total votes, he nevertheless lost the nomination to former Secretary of State for Health Frank Dobson, under a controversial system in which votes from sitting Labour MPs & MEPs were weighted more heavily than votes from rank-and-file members. On March 6 Livingstone announced that he would run against Dobson as an independent, confirming speculation that he would renege on his earlier pledge. He was suspended from the Labour Party the same day & expelled on April 4. Tony Blair said that Livingstone as mayor would be a "disaster" for London.

The result of the election — held on May 4 — was a foregone conclusion: Dobson, who it was alleged, had been pressured into running by the party leadership, unsuccessfully based his campaign on claims that Livingstone was an egomaniac, & the Conservatives remained becalmed after their catastrophic national defeat in 1997. Even seeing a Red Ken win as good as it could ebaress Labour, but long term this lacl of effort was seen as a mistake by them, as it helped the left long term, happily. Livingstone came out ahead in the first round of balloting with 38.1% of first-preference votes to Conservative Steven Norris's 26.5%; Dobson finished third, with only 12.8% of all first-preference votes — just ahead of Liberal Democrat Susan Kramer, with 11.6%. Under the modified instant-runoff voting system employed for the election, the votes cast for Livingstone & Norris (only) were considered in the second round, where Livingstone won with a landslide 57.9% of first- & second-preference votes, versus 42.1% for Norris. Livingstone's first term in office was deemed to have been fairly successful, & Livingstone was re-admitted to the Labour Party in 2004. In the 2004 mayorial election Livingstone stood as the official Labour candidate, & was easily re-elected to a second term.

Recent events Achievements as Mayor An Association of London Government survey, conducted by MORI towards the end of Livingstone's first term, demonstrated Londoners' increased satisfaction with public transport & buses in particular were seen as more frequent & reliable. In accordance with his pre-election pledge bus fares were frozen for four years, but then the standard single cash fare on buses increased from 70p to £1.50, though the pre-paid Oystercard fares remained at 80p off-peak, £1 peak. Livingstone removed the famous Routemaster buses from routine service on 9 December 2005, replacing them with wheelchair-accessible buses, although several of the old buses are used on shortened "heritage routes.". As of 1st January 2007, non-oyster card journeys became the most expensive in the world with journeys now costing £2. Livingstone has also been a strong proponent of the Oystercard smartcard ticketing system for London's public transport network introduced in 2003. In late 2005, Livingstone proposed large fare increases for on-the-spot tickets across the Tube & bus network to encourage regular travellers to use the automated Oyster system to reduce queuing at Underground stations & avoid delays in conductorless buses as drivers issue tickets. The plans, although ratified by the GLA & introduced in January 2006 were condemned in some quarters by those who argued that the increases would increase the cost of travelling in London to tourists & others who do not travel regularly. Civil liberties groups have expressed concern over the way in which Transport for London is able to track the movements of passengers using the Oystercard system. Recently, Livingstone has moved to make all bus journeys free for passengers under the age of 18 travelling with an Oystercard, & introduced initiatives to enable visitors to buy an Oyster card before arriving in London.

Livingstone introduced the London congestion charge with the purpose of reducing traffic congestion in central London. The charge was initially controversial, it is claimed to have reduced traffic levels by 15%, but this is disputed. He applied for readmittance to the Labour Party in 2002 but was rejected. In November 2003, however, rumours emerged that the Labour Party would allow Livingstone to rejoin, just ahead of the 2004 London mayoral election. Opinion polls consistently gave a poor showing to Labour's official candidate, Nicky Gavron, & many in the party leadership (including Tony Blair himself) feared that Labour would be humiliated by a fourth-place finish. In mid-December, Gavron announced she would stand down as the Labour candidate in favour of a 'unity campaign,' with Gavron as Livingstone's deputy, with Labour's National Executive Committee voting 25-2 to pave the way for Livingstone's readmittance. The deal hinged on a 'loyalty test' administered by a special five-member NEC panel on January 9. The panel recommended that Livingstone be allowed back in the party. The move towards readmittance came amid considerable opposition from senior party members, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, & former party leader Neil Kinnock. In a ballot of Labour Party members in London, Livingstone was overwhelmingly endorsed as the Labour candidate for the 2004 Mayoral election. In November 2003, Livingstone was named 'Politician of the Year' by the Political Studies Association, which cited his implementation of the 'bold & imaginative' congestion charge scheme. The honour came a week after Livingstone made the headlines for referring to George W. Bush as 'the greatest threat to life on this planet,' just before his official visit to the UK. Livingstone also organised an alternative 'Peace Reception' at City Hall 'for everybody who is not George Bush,' with anti-war Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic as the guest of honour.

Livingstone was re-elected Mayor of London on 10 June 2004. He won 35.70% of first preference votes to Conservative Steven Norris's 28.24% & Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes's 14.82%. Six other candidates shared the remainder of the votes. When all the candidates except Livingstone & Norris were eliminated & the second preferences of those voters who had picked neither Livingstone or Norris as their first choice were counted, Livingstone won with 55.39% to Norris's 44.61%.

Controversies
In his maiden speech to Parliament in July 1987, Livingstone used Parliamentary privilege to raise a number of allegations made by Fred Holroyd, a former MI6 operative in Northern Ireland. Despite the convention of maiden speeches being non-controversial, Livingstone alleged that Holroyd had been mistreated when he tried to expose MI5 collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in the 1970s & the part Captain Robert Nairac is alleged to have played. He also voiced Colin Wallace's allegations of MI5 dirty tricks leveled at Harold Wilson, part of the what became known as the "Wilson plot".

In March 2002, while still independent, Livingstone was accused of "cronyism" by some Labour party members in the London Assembly after he had appointed six officials as special advisers at a salary level which seemed to them excessive, & a manoeuvre to help his chances of being re-elected. Livingstone denied the allegations & stated the appointments were a "necessary efficiency drive."

Allegations of a drunken party fracas involving the mayor surfaced in June 2002. The Evening Standard alleged that Livingstone tussled with Robin Hedges, a friend of his partner Emma Beal, at a birthday party for Emma's sister in the early morning of 19 May 2002. The paper maintains that he manhandled Beal, who was pregnant with their first child at the time, & that he left the scene before the police arrived & after Hedges had fallen down a stairwell; Hedges believed the Mayor was responsible for pushing him.

Livingstone denied any wrongdoing but the case was referred to the Standards Board for England by the Lib Dems on the London Assembly. The standards board went through each & every allegation made by the Standard, & owing to contradictory witness statements by parties involved (including two completely different statements made by one of the alleged victims) & on the balance of probabilities the board issued a finding that there was no evidence that Livingstone breached the Code of Conduct.

Livingstone has sparked controversy on numerous other occasions. In 2004 he said he looked forward to seeing the Saudi Royal Family "swinging from lamp posts", he referred to US President George W. Bush as "the most corrupt American president since Harding in the Twenties. In a March 2005 commentary in The Guardian he accused Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon of being a "war criminal", citing his personal responsibility for the Sabra & Shatila massacre in 1982 & accusations of ethnic cleansing.

One of the key points of conflict between Livingstone & the Labour Party had been the proposed 'Public-Private Partnership' for the London Underground. Livingstone had run in 2000 on a policy of financing the improvements to Tube infrastructure by a public bond issue, which had been done in the case of the New York City Subway. However the Mayor did not have power in this area at the time as the Underground operated independently of Transport for London. The PPP deal went ahead in July 2002, but it did not diminish Livingstone's desire to re-join Labour.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Livingstone became involved in a major dispute with Peter Tatchell, who had previously supported him, when Liviongstone supported Gay Rights in the 1980s, when it was seen as totally acceptable for the mainstream media, to be vehamantly homophobic and when parts of the Tory party were using homophobia seeing it as a election winner, but he used in the opposite way for good reasons, in rainbow coalition, everyone in perfect harmony style ways, but now he invited the Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi to a conference on the wearing of the hijab by schoolgirls in July 2004. The conference was called following the French law on secularity & conspicuous religious symbols in schools, which particularly affected Muslim girls. Peter Tatchell, who had stood as an independent Livingstone supporter in the 2000 elections, strongly criticised the invitation because of al-Qaradawi's support for "female genital mutilation, wife-beating, the execution of homosexuals in Islamic states, the destruction of the Jewish people, the use of suicide bombs against innocent civilians & the blaming of rape victims who do not dress with sufficient modesty". Livingstone defended the invite on grounds of Qaradawi's eminence as "one of the most authoritative Muslim scholars in the world today" who "has done most to combat socially regressive interpretations of Islam on issues like women's rights & relations with other religions". He also published a dossier giving a point by point rebuttal of Tatchell's claims.

According to Le Monde diplomatique, Livingstone had requested a report to inform himself on al-Qaradawi before his visit. After reading the study, he concluded "nearly all of the lies distorting al-Qaradawi's statements came from the MEMRI institute, which pretends to be an institute of objective research. However, we found out that the MEMRI had been founded by a former MOSSAD officer, who systematically distorts not only al-Qaradawi's statements, but what many other Muslim scholars say. In most of the cases, disinformation is total, & this is why I published this study."

Peter Tatchell formed part of a coalition of some London based community groups which objected to al-Qaradawi, but whom Livingstone refused to meet. The Lesbian & Gay Coalition against Racism issued a statement of support for Livingstone signed, among others, by Ben Summerskill of Stonewall & Linda Bellos, which cited his record of support for gay rights "irrespective of the differing views over his meeting with the Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi". The row went on for many months, with Livingstone insistent that the Mayor of a major diverse city had a duty to maintain close relationships with all faith groups, as part of the campaign for winning the idea of different sides alliging for peace, rather than a war on terror, dividing all groups. Even if he disagreed with many of their views.

Comments to Oliver Finegold
Ken Livingstone was publicly criticised in February 2005 when he compared an Evening Standard reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard after the reporter had tried to interview him following a reception marking the 20th anniversary of Chris Smith's coming out as gay. The reporter, Oliver Finegold, was in fact Jewish & said he took offence at the comparison, but Livingstone refused to withdraw the remark & was subsequently accused of anti-Semitism. Finegold had an audio recorder running. At the end of the exchange on the tape there is a five second gap. Livingstone claimed this is where Finegold swore at him following his comments. Livingstone also claimed Finegold had deleted this part of the tape - the Standards Board for England refused to make a ruling on this, considering the claim to be irrelevant. The Evening Standard decided not to run the story at first but the following transcript of the conversation was leaked to The Guardian.

Finegold: Mr Livingstone, Evening Standard. How did tonight go?
Livingstone: How awful for you. Have you thought of having treatment?
Finegold: How did tonight go?
Livingstone: Have you thought of having treatment?
Finegold: Was it a good party? What does it mean for you?
Livingstone: What did you do before? Were you a German war criminal?
Finegold: No, I'm Jewish, I wasn't a German war criminal & I'm actually quite offended by that. So, how did tonight go?
Livingstone: Ah right, well you might be [Jewish], but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren't you?
Finegold: Great, I have you on record for that. So, how was tonight?
Livingstone: It's nothing to do with you because your paper is a load of scumbags & reactionary bigots.
Finegold: I'm a journalist & I'm doing my job. I'm only asking for a comment.
Livingstone: Well, work for a paper that doesn't have a record of supporting fascism.
This last comment was a reference to the Standard's owners, the Daily Mail & General Trust, which endorsed Oswald Mosley's fascists in 1934 & supported the Nazis until 1939. Livingstone also claimed the Standard was guilty of "harassment of a predominantly lesbian & gay event". Peter Tatchell commented that this explanation "came across as patronising. Gay people don't need the Mayor's protection to fend off a journalist asking simple questions."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone to appeal over suspensionAfter listening to the recording supplied by Finegold, the London Assembly voted unanimously to ask Livingstone to apologise. Livingstone responded by saying "the form of words I have used are right. I have nothing to apologise for" Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron, herself the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, said of Livingstone: "These were inappropriate words & very offensive, both to the individual & to Jews in London". The Board of Deputies of British Jews referred the case to the Standards Board for England, the body responsible for English local government standards, which passed it to the Adjudication Panel for England, which has the power to ban individuals from public office for five years.

The Adjudication Panel addressed the case over two days on the 13 & 14 December 2005 , & adjourned the hearing for two months. On 24 February 2006, Ken Livingstone was found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute & suspended from office for four weeks, stating that he seemed "to have failed... to have appreciated that his conduct was unacceptable". Livingstone attacked the decision on the grounds that the Adjudication Panel members ought not to suspend a democratically elected official from power, describing their actions as "striking at the heart of democracy". The ban was due to begin on 1 March 2006, but on 28 February 2006, a High Court judge postponed it pending an appeal by Livingstone. During a Mayor's Question Time evening at the Hackney Empire a vote was put forward to the few hundred people in the audience asking if them if they supported the decision to ban the Mayor from office; the London audience showed their disapproval & responded with their full backing for the Mayor.

The decision was later quashed by the High Court when on October 5, Justice Collins overturned the suspension, regardless the outcome of Livingstone's appeal concerning the breach of standards. The final judgment upheld Livingstone's appeal & stated that the Adjudication Panel had misdirected itself. On 7 December 2006, at a City Hall reception marking the launch of the London Jewish Forum, Livingstone apologised for any offence that he had caused the Jewish community.

Reuben brothers, Livingstone was again the object of criticism following a 21 March 2006 press conference at which Livingstone is alleged to have said of David & Simon Reuben — two Indian-born British businessmen involved in a property development project for the 2012 Olympics — that "if they’re not happy they can always go back to Iran & see if they can do better under the Ayatollahs". Brian Coleman & other Conservative members of the GLA accused Livingstone of anti-semitism, while The Guardian & The Times ran leaders accusing Livingstone of anti-immigrant remarks. The Guardian stated that Livingstone's remarks would "shame a loudmouth pub buffoon", & that "The Reuben brothers have as much right to be in Britain as Livingstone himself", while the Times leader said simply "Ken Livingstone is a fool" . Livingstone refused calls for him to apologize for his remarks, stating "I would offer a complete apology to the people of Iran to the suggestion that they may be linked in any way to the Reuben brothers. I wasn't meaning to be offensive to the people of Iran." He also accused Coleman of behaving like the Nazi Propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels. Showing he was not a anti semite, as he is a member of a left in Britain that sees the Nazis as the biggest enemy, and sees anti semitism as a evil thing. Which it has even in days in the 1930s when that was not such a common belief to hold. The Reuben brothers were born in Mumbai, India & are of Iraqi ancestry, rather than Iranian, but have carried out work in Iran. The Standards Board referred the comments to the GLA's monitoring officer, whose investigation exonerated the mayor . Many left wingers were angry that the people objecrtibng to these remarksm never seemed to object so much to real anti semitic statyements and some like one columnist in one newspaper not named here had dinner with genunine Nazi low lives from 1930s Britain, and then claimed what Red Ken said was anti semitic when it was not, it was anti some rich people. It is insane to say it was anti semitic. Anti semitism is evil, and should be condemmed as evilo, but some rigght wingers who were linked wioth Nazis, and who were famed anti semites claimed it was anti semitic to say what he said, when they said loads of anti jewish and anti other groups stuff. It shows that the nazis will manipulate. But few people thought really it was anti semitic, and everybody when told of what these anti Ken Livingstone, pro nazis people, know they sare often nazis and anti se mites. So the left won the debate and still saying a anti semitic thing is a thing that can make you unelectable and still all people know Red Ken is a lefty and that the left are not anti semites, and are leftists, and see the nazis as the warning from history and evil.

Dispute with US embassy over payment of Congestion Charge
A dispute with the US embassy in London over payment of the Congestion Charge escalated on 27 March 2006 when Livingstone criticised the embassy's decision not to pay. Embassy officials stopped paying the charge in July 2005. Livingstone has alleged that the decision was made by Robert Tuttle, who took up the post of Ambassador at that time, but the US embassy has denied this. The embassy has claimed the charge is a form of taxation, rather than a charge for a service, & diplomats & their staff are therefore exempt under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Germany also stopped paying the charge in 2005, but other embassies (including those of Spain, & Russia) have continued to pay it. According to the Mayor's office, US embassies in other cities with congestion charging schemes pay the charges in those cities. Livingstone described Tuttle as "one of George Bush's closest cronies & a big funder of his election campaign" & said he was trying to "skive out of [paying] like some chiselling little crook". The Standards Board for England chose not to investigate this. Japan also stopped paying from Aug 2006. He replied at radio by talking about "Japanese war crimes", & raised another controversy.

Support for minorities, In 2001 Livingstone revived the free Anti-racism Music festival now called Rise: London United. He claims that this, along with other anti-racist policies are the reason why London has seen a 35% decrease in racist attacks.

In 2001 Livingstone set up Britain's first register for gay couples, while falling short of legal marriage rights, the register was seen as a "step towards" that equality. Legal status was later passed by the government thorough the Civil Partnership Act 2004.

In September 2005 Livingstone came out in support for the placing of a statue to Nelson Mandela, the former President of South Africa, on the north terrace of Trafalgar Square. Livingstone said "There can be no better place than our greatest square to place a statue of Nelson Mandela so that every generation can remind the next of the fight against racism." He was highly critical of the Planning & City Development Committee of Westminster City Council who refused planning permission.

After rejecting the idea for a few years, Livingstone hosted a Jewish Hanukkah ceremony at City Hall in December 2005. He said he intended this to be an annual occurrence. On March 17, 2002 Livingstone introduced an annual Saint Patrick's Day festival to London to celebrate the contributions of the Irish to London. On October 28, 2006 he helped organise the first ever "Eid in the Square" in Trafalgar Square, in commemoration of the Eid ul-Fitr festival which marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.

London Mayor's Statement of 7 July 2005 In the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings, Livingstone initiated a campaign to celebrate London's multiculturalismWithin hours of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Livingstone, speaking off the cuff, & from half way around the world at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore where it had recently been announced London would host the 2012 Olympic Games, delivered a speech.

Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.

I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others - that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society & I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our sea ports & look at our railway stations & , even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners & to fulfil their dreams & achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don't want that & nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong & where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.

On July 20, 2005, Livingstone made the following comments in a BBC interview about the role of foreign policy as a motivation for the bombing:

I think you've just had 80 years of western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of the western need for oil.

We've propped up unsavoury governments, we've overthrown ones we didn't consider sympathetic.

And I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s ... the Americans recruited & trained Osama Bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs, & set him off to kill the Russians & drive them out of Afghanistan.

They didn't give any thought to the fact that once he'd done that he might turn on his creators.

A lot of young people see the double standards, they see what happens in Guantanamo Bay, & they just think that there isn't a just foreign policy.

Livingstone defended the police after the mistaken killing of a Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, who police believed was a suicide bomber.

In February 2007 Livingstone launched the London Climate Change Action Plan

Many people give Red Ken the credit for Winning the 2012 olympics, as he put in more left wing multi-cultutal idealism, maybe that made the London one fresher and a suprise winner

He still supports the idea of a British republic. a great thing In the 1990s or 1980s one thing that helped his popularity was a a advert for Cheese, a Red Cheese, which helped him, probabaly worth loads of money, and he I think was paid for, it a comic, one, and a nice idea. it was him eating the make of cheese, Leicester maybe, did him good, made him seem like the people even more. just like how he used to go by tube to work. Another was a BBC comedy sketch show, where he was a action hero played by Robbie Coltrane fighting a Thatcher trying to close the GLC. With him attacked by her, with her as a comicaly evil villain. very good. On question time up to 2007 he very often used to easilly win debates via sensible left wing idealism, mixed with inteligent ways and articluate and clever language. Beating right wing zeaolts, centrists, right wing centrists, even centre left, peace loving, though for war in emergencies, while far left agreed with him, but usually like most of us would have views that were not left wing enough at times, like anti Eu, unlike Red Kens great views. Its a great a socialist, liberal, moderate, far left republican, pro EU, internationalist, pro gay, even at times when that was unfashionable, pro black, pro foreign socialists, pro foreign left wingers, pro foreign utopian leftiest like Latin American and African, linking with tnem to build a strong left, also pro poorest, Rainbow coalition leftism, what democracy needs to be at it's best. Maybe one day a far right anti idealist will lead London, again,. but that is life, the left are best. Often he says embaressing things for nasty rightists reversing their propaganda tactic, like he says you saud this or that, blah blah, you said this once. blah blah. Saying how Thatcher said, I am sure to him, that people on busses in their mid 20s are failures (I just missed that by having a car), a horrid lying thing for Thatcher to say, and showing that the right are lying whern they allways claim the left are elitstists just as the left do not agree with a popular racist or homophobic statement of the time, the left are best. Not that I want to go on busses they are horrible. Of course I heard one person claim she did not say that, but how on Earth does he know, if Ken said she did, and she is unlikely to have denied it, especially with her policies on public transport, surely Red Ken is more honest in my view, in terms of equal beliefs than her beliefs which are more dog eat dog, and so not so interested in morality or truth, whether she likes to accept that or not, so I believ Red Ken, I am sure he said she said that on any answers or any questions, or some BBCTV radio series indicating beliefs held by many snobby right wing types, and certainly not by leftist ideals, of course right wingers will claim otherwise in their typical 2 can play at that game way, of every time a left winger gets in a good critisism, of a right wingers, the right make some made up rubbish and exagerrated stuff about the left to claim they are as bad, like claiming left wingers are elitist when it is right wingers who are etc etc, its what there whole belief in supporting elitist far right historical figures is about, contrary to the left who usually critise left wing bads, and rightl;y gliorify good lefties, Livingstone is the hero of left wing ideals of the late 20th and early 21st century, a republican a socialist and somebody who was also working class as too often the only far l;eft politicians are upper class, like in the USA, at times, as elitistists trample so desperately working class left wingers, and desire working class right wingers, if he is ever voted out of office narrowly it will be a fitting end, as it would mean he fought to the end, doing all he could, like a real hero, like a legend, using his last remaining energy to do all he could, when this site was written in 2007, with the end finished in Mid 2008,. after a certain election, it will be able to be said, he won the olympics, beat Thatcher, was a standard bearer for Republicanism, for Latin American socialists who have been democraticlly elected, and for many many many things that all decent people would support, a true hero of British politics, and world politics, but even if he went out of office lets hope he would then be re-elected and even if not, its what I stated before, a great success whatever happens

An Index with links to almost all our sites.

A game where you can be elected President of a country like the US

US Senate majorities of 1789-2007 A list of all the Presidents of the USA to 2006 A Link to the numbers for the House, 1789-2007

A Biography article on Tony Benn

The Lonympics Entertainment Special zone A Pleasure crammed compendium of fun, exitement, & sensation tugging links. For instance lists of some of the best comedians ever's official websites.

Our report on the history of racism, in US mainstream media, from the 1900s to 2006, & wonderings of what conclusions we can have, A short report.

Our Sports index

A Biography of Hillary Clinton A Biography of John McCain A Biography of Rudy Giuliani A Biography of Al Gore

A site stating which animals, would be best at football, it is comical, & there are 2 teams, by 2 people, so some needle & competition for the best

A game where you are the candidate for the leadership of the British Tory Party in 1990, I am not a Tory, but this election was the most exiting election in Britain in the past couple of decades so why not play it

A game where you have to play to win a US style presidential election, if you win you become the president & if you lose you lose, great fun.

A Multimedia Centre for World TV chanells, you click on the TV & you get their website or U Tube style TV website

A recipe site, Delicous Dishes

A site stating what have been the world's largest empires ever

Cool Music

A site stating the 10 largest majority English speaking lands, as their main tongue in the world

A History of London