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Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born June 17 , 1945 ), is a British Politician who has been the Mayor Of London since 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 did not enjoy national politics and had little impact in the House of Commons. Never far away from controversy, he is noted for his plain, even blunt, speaking which has on occasion won him popularity and on others brought him into trouble. Livingstone was nicknamed 'Red Ken' from the early 1980s because of his Left-wing views. He is a member of the Labour Party , but he 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 and stood as the official Labour Party candidate for mayor in the June 2004 Elections , which he won with a total of 828,380 first and second preference votes. Currently, Livingstone is facing a one month suspension from his post as Mayor, imposed by the Adjudication Panel For England in February 2006 for comments to a journalist that were described by the panel as "unnecessarily offensive". The suspension was due to begin on 1 March but on 28 February 2006 a High Court judge postponed the suspension pending an appeal by Livingstone for Judicial Review of the Panel's decision. EARLY AND PRIVATE LIFE Livingstone was born in and Associated Newspapers . He is well known for keeping and breeding Newt s. Livingstone attended Tulse Hill Comprehensive School {Link without Title} . He worked for eight years as a Cancer research technician and 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 and few new young members were joining, and therefore rapidly rose in the local party. He was elected to the Lambeth Borough Council in May 1971 and 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 and 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 and urged the abolition of censorship. Coming up to the 1977 Elections , Livingstone realised that it would be difficult to retain his seat and managed to be selected for Hackney North and 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 Parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and moved to Camden just before the deadline to stand for the council in 1978, and was elected there. Livingstone's performance in Hampstead in the 1979 General Election was relatively good although he did not come close to winning the 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 and a breach of Fiduciary Duty , but Livingstone was not surcharged. GLC LEADERSHIP When Sir Reg Goodwin retired 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 constituencies to marginal Paddington . The Labour Party narrowly won control having been led through the campaign by McIntosh who denied that he would be deposed. The day after the election, Livingstone challenged McIntosh for the leadership, and 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, and all voted as a bloc within the Labour Party. They had also ensured that the left had control of the Labour manifesto for the election. The GLC then set about reducing Bus and London Underground fares, paid for by a special 'supplementary rate' in a policy known as 'Fares Fair'. Although the measure was generally popular and led to an increase in the use of Public Transportation , it was challenged by the Conservative -controlled council of Bromley where there were no London Underground stations, and 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 leaders Gerry Adams and Danny Morrison . In the event, Adams and Morrison were denied entry into the country under the Prevention Of Terrorism Act and 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 Hitler 's treatment of the Jews. Such actions made Livingstone a favourite target for the press. He acquired the nickname 'Red Ken' and '' The Sun '' described him as 'the most odious man in Britain'. ''Private Eye'' dubbed Livingstone Leninspart, partly in response to his earlier toppling of McIntosh. However, Livingstone favoured European integration and 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 and it led to a personal rift with John McDonnell , who had been Finance Chairman and 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, and forged ahead with their long-standing plan to abolish the GLC and Devolve control to the individual Borough s. The GLC mounted a massive (and expensive) campaign to 'save London's democracy,' while the proposed abolition bill (which also abolished six other Labour-controlled metropolitan councils, including Merseyside) faced opposition from politicians on all sides, including former Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath . On August 2 1984 , Livingstone and 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, and 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 IN PARLIAMENT 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 chairmanship of Neil Kinnock and now blamed left-wingers like Livingstone for Labour's 'unelectability.' Nevertheless, he was elected to the party's National Executive Committee in September 1987, 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 in the 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 and host, after-dinner speaker, and restaurant reviewer for the '' Evening Standard ''. In 1987 he published an Autobiography -cum-political tract, ''If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It''. 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 and was listed as 'The Right On Ken Livingstone.' GREATER LONDON'S FIRST MAYOR Livingstone was again re-elected in the , who would be watched over by a 25-member Assembly. Livingstone was widely tipped for the new post of Mayor. The mayoral election was scheduled for 2000, and in 1999, Labour began the long and 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 and Ken Livingstone as your nightmare?" {Link without Title} 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 system in which votes from sitting Labour MPs and MEPs were weighted more heavily than votes from rank-and-file members. Many people speculated that Livingstone would renege on his earlier pledge and run against Dobson as an independent; on March 6 he announced that he would indeed do so. He was suspended from the Labour Party the same day and expelled on April 4 . ]] The result of the election — held on '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 and Norris (only) were considered in the second round, where Livingstone won with 57.9% of first- and second-preference votes, versus 42.1% for Norris. RECENT EVENTS before returning to the city from Singapore , one day after London was awarded the 2012 Olympics at an IOC meeting there.]] 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 and buses in particular were seen as more frequent and reliable. {Link without Title} In accordance with his pre-election pledge bus fares were frozen for four years, but then the standard single fare on the privatised 2005 replacing them with wheel-chair accessible buses - though several of the old buses appear on shortened "heritage routes". Livingstone has also been a strong proponent of the Oystercard smartcard ticketing system for London's public transport network introduced in 2003 - even though the system had been in the planning stage by London Transport long before the GLA even existed. In late 2005, Livingstone proposed large fare increases across the Tube and bus network which were designed to wean regular travellers off traditional paper tickets and onto the Oyster system in an effort to reduce queueing at busy Underground stations and also to remove cash from the buses compltely. The plans, although ratified by the GLA and introduced in January 2006 were condemned in some quarters who argued that the increases would hit the pockets of tourists and those who made infrequent visits to the capital. One of his most controversial policies has been the introduction of the London Congestion Charge , in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion in central London. The charge reduced traffic levels by 15% and Livingstone intends to extend the zone in which the charge applies. Livingstone 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 , and 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 higher-ups in the party, including Chancellor Of The Exchequer Gordon Brown , Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott , and 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. Also in November 2003, Livingstone was named 'Politician of the Year' by the Political Studies Association, which cited his implementation of the 'bold and 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 ahead of the President's 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% and Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes's 14.82%. Six other candidates shared the remainder of the votes. When all the candidates except Livingstone and Norris were eliminated and 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%. Some commentators believed that his re-election as mayor was hindered rather than helped by his readmission to the Labour party. Controversies In his maiden speech to Parliament in July 1987, Livingstone used Parliamentary privilege to raise a number of allegations made by Mr. 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 1970's and the part Captain Robert Nairac is alleged to have played. He also voiced Holroyd's allegations of MI5 dirty trick's leveled at Harold Wilson which has come to be know as the ''"Wilson plot"'' in an attempt to cause maximum embarrassment to the Thatcher Government. 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. Livingstone claimed the appointments were a "necessary efficiency drive," but these opponents believed it was a manoeuvre to help his chances of being re-elected. {Link without Title} 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, and that he left the scene before the police arrived and 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 and every allegation made by the ''Standard'', and owing to contradictory witness statements by parties involved (including two completely different statements made by one of the alleged victims and on the balance of probabilities the board issued a finding that there was [http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=1869 no evidence that Livingstone breached the Code of Conduct. Livingstone sparked controversy numerous times, such as when he said he looked forward to seeing the '' where he accused Israel 's prime minister Ariel Sharon of being a War Criminal , citing his involvement in the Sabra And Shatila Massacre and accusations of Ethnic Cleansing . One of the key points of conflict between Livingstone and 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 and Livingstone was forced to make a deal. 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 some who had previously supported him when he invited the respected '', 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 found 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, and this is why I published this study." 1 See in French (freely available) 2 ( Farsi translation also available for free here ) 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 and Gay Coalition against Racism issued a statement of support for Livingstone signed, among others, by Ben Summerskill of Stonewall and Linda Bellos , which cited his record of support for gay rights, although they stopped short of endorsing the decision to invite 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 even if he disagreed with some of their views. Oliver Finegold Ken Livingstone was publicly criticised in February 2005 when he compared an '' Evening Standard '' Reporter to a 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 a homosexual. The reporter, Oliver Finegold , turned out to be Jewish and said he took offence at the comparison, but Livingstone refused to withdraw the remark and was subsequently accused of Anti-Semitism . Finegold had an audio recorder running and he released the following recording of the conversation, which Livingstone and the Standards board claim has been edited - it contains 12 seconds of silence: :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 and I'm actually quite offended by that. So, how did tonight go? :Livingstone: Ah right, well you might be {Link without Title} , 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 and reactionary bigots. :Finegold: I'm a journalist and 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 sister paper, the '' stated that the gay community did not need Livingstone's support if that meant resorting to abuse. {Link without Title} After listening to the recording supplied by Finegold, the and the Commission For Racial Equality 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 {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} , and adjourned the hearing for two months. On , will stand in for him if his appeal fails. 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 and responded with their full backing for the Mayor. Reuben brothers Livingstone was again the object of criticism following a i ancestry, rather than Iranian. US embassy 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 Tax ation, and diplomats and 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 , Japan and 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 and a big funder of his election campaign" and said he was trying to "skive out of like some chiselling little crook". These remarks have prompted another referral to the Standards Board For England .[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4853520.stm Support for minorities festival in December 2005]] In September 2005 Livingstone came out in support for the placing of a statue to who refused planning permission. In December 2005, Livingstone hosted a Jewish Hanukkah ceremony at City Hall. He said he intended this to be an annual occurrence. Reaction to 7 July 2005 London Bombings ]] Within hours of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Livingstone, speaking off the cuff, and 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. Livingstone was visibly shaken and his voice conveyed a sense of disbelief and anger at the atrocities which had just been perpetrated in his home city. 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 and I can show you why you will fail. In the days that follow, look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, 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 and to fulfil their dreams and 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 and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail. {Link without Title} 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 and trained Osama Bin Laden , taught him how to kill, to make bombs, and set him off to kill the Russia ns and 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 , and they just think that there isn't a just foreign policy. {Link without Title} Livingstone defended the police after the mistaken killing of a Brazilian man, Jean Charles De Menezes , who police believed was a suicide bomber. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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