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Ken Livingstone first came to attention as leader of the [[Greater London Council]] (GLC) in 1981; the Labour Party of that time had been out of government for a decade, and was regarded by many as too left-wing to be electable. As a strong supporter of the recognition of gay rights and of measures to address the inequalities faced by women and ethnic minorities, and as a supporter of dialogue with [[Sinn Fein]] and the [[IRA]], he became a frequent focus of attacks from tabloid newspapers.  He was a prominent anti-apartheid activist, and at a 1985 rally calling for the release of [[Nelson Mandela]], he accused Thatcher of racism, <ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/how-the-antiapartheid-movement-was-spied-on-by-special-branch-402385.html How the anti-apartheid movement was spied on by Special Branch] ''The Independent'' 15 September 2007</ref> Yet Ken Livingstone's left-wing, confrontational approach to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government of  Thatcher proved popular with voters in [[London]], and his power there ended only when the Thatcher Government abolished the GLC.
Ken Livingstone first came to attention as leader of the [[Greater London Council]] (GLC) in 1981; the Labour Party of that time had been out of government for a decade, and was regarded by many as too left-wing to be electable. As a strong supporter of the recognition of gay rights and of measures to address the inequalities faced by women and ethnic minorities, and as a supporter of dialogue with [[Sinn Fein]] and the [[IRA]], he became a frequent focus of attacks from tabloid newspapers.  He was a prominent anti-apartheid activist, and at a 1985 rally calling for the release of [[Nelson Mandela]], he accused Thatcher of racism, <ref>[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/how-the-antiapartheid-movement-was-spied-on-by-special-branch-402385.html How the anti-apartheid movement was spied on by Special Branch] ''The Independent'' 15 September 2007</ref> Yet Ken Livingstone's left-wing, confrontational approach to the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government of  Thatcher proved popular with voters in [[London]], and his power there ended only when the Thatcher Government abolished the GLC.


==Career in Politics==
<blockquote> "If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it."
(Title of Ken Livingstone's 1988 autobiography/political tract)</blockquote>
Ken Livingstone joined the Labour Party in 1969 and became secretary of the Norwood Young [[socialism|Socialists]]. He was elected to [[Lambeth]] Council in 1971, and to the Greater London Council (GLC)in 1973, becoming its leader in 1981. In 1986, Margaret Thatcher's government abolished the GLC - a decision that the Labour Party pledged to reverse. In 1985 he was elected to Parliament as Labour member for [[London Borough of Brent|Brent]] East, and in the [[1987 United Kingdom genera election|1987 general election]] he retained the [[constituency]] for Labour.
In the general election of 1997, the Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership swept into power with a landslide majority.
In 1999, the new government created a new [[Greater London Authority]], which for the first time in the UK established a key role for a directly elected Mayor.<ref> [http://www.london.gov.uk/about.jsp London.gov.uk - About].</ref> To Blair's consternation, the first election in 2000 produced a win not for the official Labour candidate, but for 'Red' Ken Livingstone.<ref>''BBC News:'' '[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk_politics/2000/london_mayor/736460.stm Ken Livingstone: Rebel mayor']. One of Livingstone's actions was to mount a giant, updated counter of London's rising unemployment figures on the roof of County Hall, opposite The Houses of Parliament.</ref> Livingstone had been nominated as Labour candidate for Mayor by local London Labour parties, but was unsympathetic to "New Labour" and was regarded by Blair as a potential electoral liability for the party nationally.<ref>''BBC News:'' '[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/528259.stm Blair in new attack on Livingstone]'. 19th November 1999</ref> Blair repeatedly predicted that Livingstone would be a "disaster" for London and unfavourably recalled Labour's more left-wing years (''see quotations, right''). Accordingly an [[electoral college]] weighted in favour of MPs over ordinary members rejected Livingstone's nomination; Livingstone refused to accept this and declared that he would stand as an independent candidate against the official Labour candidate, the Blair loyalist [[Frank Dobson]]. Livingstone was expelled from the Labour party, but won the election. As Mayor he proved successful and popular, and was re-elected in 2004 - standing as the official Labour candidate, having been re-admitted to the party shortly before.<ref> The ''Independent:'' '[http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article82553.ece Blair and Livingstone's marriage of convenience]' 15th December 2003.</ref>
In November 1999, he was defeated in a contest to select the Labour party's candidate in the election for the newly-created post of Mayor of London by [[Frank Dobson]], the candidate favoured by Tony Blair. He responded by leaving the Labour Party and standing as an [[independent (politician)|independent]], and in May 2000 he was elected Mayor of London, a post that he held until 2008, when he was defeated by [[Boris Johnson]], the Conservative Party's candidate. He is again the Labour Party candidate for Mayor in the next election, to be held in 2012.<ref>''BBC News'': '[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11400442 Profile: Ken Livingstone]'.</ref>
His previous performance as Mayor was generally regarded as satisfactory,<ref>[http://capibus.co.uk/researchpublications/researcharchive/poll.aspx?oItemId=301, ''Londoners' Attitudes Towards The Mayor And Other Issues'', IPSOS poll, 31 March 2006].</ref> although his introduction of [[congestion charge]]s has had a mixed reception. However, in matters other than his conduct as Mayor of London, he has been a controversial figure. He has been a supporter of the [[communism|communist]] regime in [[Cuba]] and the strongly socialist government of [[Venezuela]],<ref>[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mukto-mona/message/30999?threaded=1&var=1&p=13 ''Livingstone lambasts U.S. campaign against Chavez'', Yahoo mukto-mona, 19 February 2006].</ref> an opponent of [[Labour Party (UK)#'New Labour'|New Labour]], and of [[Gordon Brown]]'s economic policies (having said in 1998 that "Gordon is not up to his job... Britain is now heading towards a recession entirely of Gordon's making".<ref>''BBC Politics Show'': '[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/politics_show/6211476.stm With an eye on 2007...]' Andrew Cryan, 8th December 2006.</ref>) In a 2007 interview,<ref>''Prospect'' magazine: '[http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2007/04/interviewkenlivingstone/ Simon Parker Interview: Ken Livingstone]'29th April 2007.</ref> he
defended the [[Islam]]ic cleric, [[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]], who is banned from entering the USA and UK, as a progressive force who preaches about an engagement between Islam and the west ("I’m not going to take stuff off a website run by a former Israeli intelligence officer as a literal interpretation of what al-Qaradawi says, nor am I going to believe what I read in the Sun when I meet the man myself and I hear him"). <ref>''BBC News'': '[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232398.stm Muslim cleric not allowed into UK]'. 7th February 2008.</ref><ref>''Foreign Policy Research Institute'': '[http://www.fpri.org/enotes/201001.helfonts.islammodernityqaradawi.html Samuel Helfont: Islam and Islamism Today: the Case of Yusuf al-Qaradawi]'. January 2010.</ref><ref>''Investigative Project on Terrorism'': '[http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/167 Yusuf al-Qaradawi]'.</ref> He criticised [[Israel]]'s [[2009 Gaza conflict|2009 actions]] against the [[Hamas]] organisation in the [[Gaza Strip]]<ref>''Guardian'': [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/04/gaza-israel-hamas-palestinians Ken Livingstone: Europe must take the initiative]'. 4th January 2009.</ref> In 2009 he interviewed the leader of [[Hamas]] for ''The New Statesman'' <ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2009/09/israel-palestinian-hamas Exclusive: Hamas leader interview] ''New Statesman'' September 2009</ref> and was criticised by a Foreign Office ministere for doing so.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/2009/09/hamas-interview-israel-lewis Foreign Office minister attacks Livingstone over Hamas interview ]</ref>
Livingstone has been a recurrent "hate figure" for the tabloid press; the ''Sun'' once described him as 'the most odious man in Britain'. And Livingstone has been outspoken in his contempt for tabloid journalism: "What a squalid and irresponsible little profession it is. Nothing prepares you for how bad Fleet Street really is until it craps on you from a great height.” In 2005, he received a four-week suspension from office for comparing a [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[journalism|journalist]] working for the Daily Mail newspaper group (which supported the Nazis in the 1930s) to a concentration camp guard (saying, "You're just doing it because you're paid to, aren't you?”)<ref>''BBC News'': '[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4746016.stm. Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe]'. 24th February 2006.</ref>
<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/feb/12/pressandpublishing.londonpolitics </ref>
<blockquote>"When you go to Moscow, the only thing the bloody religions can agree on—the patriarch, the local chief rabbi and the local imam—is that they all don’t want a gay rights march in Moscow." In interview with Simon Parker, 2007</blockquote>
==Career in Politics==
==Career in Politics==


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Ken Livingstone is a left-wing member of the United Kingdom's Labour Party, and a former Member of Parliament. He was Mayor of London from 2000 to 2008 and is a prospective candidate in 2012. He is a colourful and outspoken politician, known for his sharp wit and for his willingness to speak openly on controversial issues. He was a vigorous opponent of the policies of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and of many of those of Tony Blair, especially of the war in Iraq. His willingness to openly express his opposition to Labour Party policies have made him often unpopular with senior figures within the Party, but has won him considerable support from "grassroots" Party members and also from an electorate attracted to the idea of an independent-minded leader.

Ken Livingstone first came to attention as leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1981; the Labour Party of that time had been out of government for a decade, and was regarded by many as too left-wing to be electable. As a strong supporter of the recognition of gay rights and of measures to address the inequalities faced by women and ethnic minorities, and as a supporter of dialogue with Sinn Fein and the IRA, he became a frequent focus of attacks from tabloid newspapers. He was a prominent anti-apartheid activist, and at a 1985 rally calling for the release of Nelson Mandela, he accused Thatcher of racism, [1] Yet Ken Livingstone's left-wing, confrontational approach to the Conservative government of Thatcher proved popular with voters in London, and his power there ended only when the Thatcher Government abolished the GLC.

Career in Politics

"If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it." (Title of Ken Livingstone's 1988 autobiography/political tract)

Ken Livingstone joined the Labour Party in 1969 and became secretary of the Norwood Young Socialists. He was elected to Lambeth Council in 1971, and to the Greater London Council (GLC)in 1973, becoming its leader in 1981. In 1986, Margaret Thatcher's government abolished the GLC - a decision that the Labour Party pledged to reverse. In 1985 he was elected to Parliament as Labour member for Brent East, and in the 1987 general election he retained the constituency for Labour.

In the general election of 1997, the Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership swept into power with a landslide majority. In 1999, the new government created a new Greater London Authority, which for the first time in the UK established a key role for a directly elected Mayor.[2] To Blair's consternation, the first election in 2000 produced a win not for the official Labour candidate, but for 'Red' Ken Livingstone.[3] Livingstone had been nominated as Labour candidate for Mayor by local London Labour parties, but was unsympathetic to "New Labour" and was regarded by Blair as a potential electoral liability for the party nationally.[4] Blair repeatedly predicted that Livingstone would be a "disaster" for London and unfavourably recalled Labour's more left-wing years (see quotations, right). Accordingly an electoral college weighted in favour of MPs over ordinary members rejected Livingstone's nomination; Livingstone refused to accept this and declared that he would stand as an independent candidate against the official Labour candidate, the Blair loyalist Frank Dobson. Livingstone was expelled from the Labour party, but won the election. As Mayor he proved successful and popular, and was re-elected in 2004 - standing as the official Labour candidate, having been re-admitted to the party shortly before.[5]

In November 1999, he was defeated in a contest to select the Labour party's candidate in the election for the newly-created post of Mayor of London by Frank Dobson, the candidate favoured by Tony Blair. He responded by leaving the Labour Party and standing as an independent, and in May 2000 he was elected Mayor of London, a post that he held until 2008, when he was defeated by Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party's candidate. He is again the Labour Party candidate for Mayor in the next election, to be held in 2012.[6]

His previous performance as Mayor was generally regarded as satisfactory,[7] although his introduction of congestion charges has had a mixed reception. However, in matters other than his conduct as Mayor of London, he has been a controversial figure. He has been a supporter of the communist regime in Cuba and the strongly socialist government of Venezuela,[8] an opponent of New Labour, and of Gordon Brown's economic policies (having said in 1998 that "Gordon is not up to his job... Britain is now heading towards a recession entirely of Gordon's making".[9]) In a 2007 interview,[10] he defended the Islamic cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is banned from entering the USA and UK, as a progressive force who preaches about an engagement between Islam and the west ("I’m not going to take stuff off a website run by a former Israeli intelligence officer as a literal interpretation of what al-Qaradawi says, nor am I going to believe what I read in the Sun when I meet the man myself and I hear him"). [11][12][13] He criticised Israel's 2009 actions against the Hamas organisation in the Gaza Strip[14] In 2009 he interviewed the leader of Hamas for The New Statesman [15] and was criticised by a Foreign Office ministere for doing so.[16]

Livingstone has been a recurrent "hate figure" for the tabloid press; the Sun once described him as 'the most odious man in Britain'. And Livingstone has been outspoken in his contempt for tabloid journalism: "What a squalid and irresponsible little profession it is. Nothing prepares you for how bad Fleet Street really is until it craps on you from a great height.” In 2005, he received a four-week suspension from office for comparing a Jewish journalist working for the Daily Mail newspaper group (which supported the Nazis in the 1930s) to a concentration camp guard (saying, "You're just doing it because you're paid to, aren't you?”)[17] [18]


"When you go to Moscow, the only thing the bloody religions can agree on—the patriarch, the local chief rabbi and the local imam—is that they all don’t want a gay rights march in Moscow." In interview with Simon Parker, 2007

Career in Politics

"If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it." (Title of Ken Livingstone's 1988 autobiography/political tract)

Ken Livingstone joined the Labour Party in 1969 and became secretary of the Norwood Young Socialists. He was elected to Lambeth Council in 1971, and to the Greater London Council (GLC)in 1973, becoming its leader in 1981. In 1986, Margaret Thatcher's government abolished the GLC - a decision that the Labour Party pledged to reverse. In 1985 he was elected to Parliament as Labour member for Brent East, and in the 1987 general election he retained the constituency for Labour.

In the general election of 1997, the Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership swept into power with a landslide majority. In 1999, the new government created a new Greater London Authority, which for the first time in the UK established a key role for a directly elected Mayor.[19] To Blair's consternation, the first election in 2000 produced a win not for the official Labour candidate, but for 'Red' Ken Livingstone.[20] Livingstone had been nominated as Labour candidate for Mayor by local London Labour parties, but was unsympathetic to "New Labour" and was regarded by Blair as a potential electoral liability for the party nationally.[21] Blair repeatedly predicted that Livingstone would be a "disaster" for London and unfavourably recalled Labour's more left-wing years (see quotations, right). Accordingly an electoral college weighted in favour of MPs over ordinary members rejected Livingstone's nomination; Livingstone refused to accept this and declared that he would stand as an independent candidate against the official Labour candidate, the Blair loyalist Frank Dobson. Livingstone was expelled from the Labour party, but won the election. As Mayor he proved successful and popular, and was re-elected in 2004 - standing as the official Labour candidate, having been re-admitted to the party shortly before.[22]

In November 1999, he was defeated in a contest to select the Labour party's candidate in the election for the newly-created post of Mayor of London by Frank Dobson, the candidate favoured by Tony Blair. He responded by leaving the Labour Party and standing as an independent, and in May 2000 he was elected Mayor of London, a post that he held until 2008, when he was defeated by Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party's candidate. He is again the Labour Party candidate for Mayor in the next election, to be held in 2012.[23]

His previous performance as Mayor was generally regarded as satisfactory,[24] although his introduction of congestion charges has had a mixed reception. However, in matters other than his conduct as Mayor of London, he has been a controversial figure. He has been a supporter of the communist regime in Cuba and the strongly socialist government of Venezuela,[25] an opponent of New Labour, and of Gordon Brown's economic policies (having said in 1998 that "Gordon is not up to his job... Britain is now heading towards a recession entirely of Gordon's making".[26]) In a 2007 interview,[27] he defended the Islamic cleric, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is banned from entering the USA and UK, as a progressive force who preaches about an engagement between Islam and the west ("I’m not going to take stuff off a website run by a former Israeli intelligence officer as a literal interpretation of what al-Qaradawi says, nor am I going to believe what I read in the Sun when I meet the man myself and I hear him"). [28][29][30] He criticised Israel's 2009 actions against the Hamas organisation in the Gaza Strip[31] In 2009 he interviewed the leader of Hamas for The New Statesman [32] and was criticised by a Foreign Office ministere for doing so.[33]

Livingstone has been a recurrent "hate figure" for the tabloid press; the Sun once described him as 'the most odious man in Britain'. And Livingstone has been outspoken in his contempt for tabloid journalism: "What a squalid and irresponsible little profession it is. Nothing prepares you for how bad Fleet Street really is until it craps on you from a great height.” In 2005, he received a four-week suspension from office for comparing a Jewish journalist working for the Daily Mail newspaper group (which supported the Nazis in the 1930s) to a concentration camp guard (saying, "You're just doing it because you're paid to, aren't you?”)[34] [35]


"When you go to Moscow, the only thing the bloody religions can agree on—the patriarch, the local chief rabbi and the local imam—is that they all don’t want a gay rights march in Moscow." In interview with Simon Parker, 2007

Footnotes

  1. ↑ How the anti-apartheid movement was spied on by Special Branch The Independent 15 September 2007
  2. ↑ London.gov.uk - About.
  3. ↑ BBC News: 'Ken Livingstone: Rebel mayor'. One of Livingstone's actions was to mount a giant, updated counter of London's rising unemployment figures on the roof of County Hall, opposite The Houses of Parliament.
  4. ↑ BBC News: 'Blair in new attack on Livingstone'. 19th November 1999
  5. ↑ The Independent: 'Blair and Livingstone's marriage of convenience' 15th December 2003.
  6. ↑ BBC News: 'Profile: Ken Livingstone'.
  7. ↑ Londoners' Attitudes Towards The Mayor And Other Issues, IPSOS poll, 31 March 2006.
  8. ↑ Livingstone lambasts U.S. campaign against Chavez, Yahoo mukto-mona, 19 February 2006.
  9. ↑ BBC Politics Show: 'With an eye on 2007...' Andrew Cryan, 8th December 2006.
  10. ↑ Prospect magazine: 'Simon Parker Interview: Ken Livingstone'29th April 2007.
  11. ↑ BBC News: 'Muslim cleric not allowed into UK'. 7th February 2008.
  12. ↑ Foreign Policy Research Institute: 'Samuel Helfont: Islam and Islamism Today: the Case of Yusuf al-Qaradawi'. January 2010.
  13. ↑ Investigative Project on Terrorism: 'Yusuf al-Qaradawi'.
  14. ↑ Guardian: Ken Livingstone: Europe must take the initiative'. 4th January 2009.
  15. ↑ Exclusive: Hamas leader interview New Statesman September 2009
  16. ↑ Foreign Office minister attacks Livingstone over Hamas interview
  17. ↑ BBC News: 'Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe'. 24th February 2006.
  18. ↑ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/feb/12/pressandpublishing.londonpolitics
  19. ↑ London.gov.uk - About.
  20. ↑ BBC News: 'Ken Livingstone: Rebel mayor'. One of Livingstone's actions was to mount a giant, updated counter of London's rising unemployment figures on the roof of County Hall, opposite The Houses of Parliament.
  21. ↑ BBC News: 'Blair in new attack on Livingstone'. 19th November 1999
  22. ↑ The Independent: 'Blair and Livingstone's marriage of convenience' 15th December 2003.
  23. ↑ BBC News: 'Profile: Ken Livingstone'.
  24. ↑ Londoners' Attitudes Towards The Mayor And Other Issues, IPSOS poll, 31 March 2006.
  25. ↑ Livingstone lambasts U.S. campaign against Chavez, Yahoo mukto-mona, 19 February 2006.
  26. ↑ BBC Politics Show: 'With an eye on 2007...' Andrew Cryan, 8th December 2006.
  27. ↑ Prospect magazine: 'Simon Parker Interview: Ken Livingstone'29th April 2007.
  28. ↑ BBC News: 'Muslim cleric not allowed into UK'. 7th February 2008.
  29. ↑ Foreign Policy Research Institute: 'Samuel Helfont: Islam and Islamism Today: the Case of Yusuf al-Qaradawi'. January 2010.
  30. ↑ Investigative Project on Terrorism: 'Yusuf al-Qaradawi'.
  31. ↑ Guardian: Ken Livingstone: Europe must take the initiative'. 4th January 2009.
  32. ↑ Exclusive: Hamas leader interview New Statesman September 2009
  33. ↑ Foreign Office minister attacks Livingstone over Hamas interview
  34. ↑ BBC News: 'Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe'. 24th February 2006.
  35. ↑ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/feb/12/pressandpublishing.londonpolitics
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