Kenneth Robert Livingstone is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliament for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. A suspended member of the Labour Party, he was on the party's hard left, ideologically identifying as a democratic socialist.
Born in Lambeth, South London, to a working-class family, Livingstone joined Labour in 1968 and was elected to represent Norwood at the GLC in 1973, Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1977, and Paddington in 1981, when he was elected leader of the GLC by Labour members. Attempting to reduce London Underground fares, his plans were challenged in court and declared unlawful; more successful were his schemes to benefit women and underprivileged minorities, despite stiff opposition. Livingstone was heavily criticised in the mainstream media for supporting controversial issues like republicanism, LGBT rights, and a United Ireland, and given the moniker "Red Ken". Livingstone was a vocal opponent of the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which in 1986 abolished the GLC. Elected as MP for Brent East in 1987, he became closely associated with anti-racist campaigns. He unsuccessfully stood for Labour Party leader on a leftist platform in 1992 and 1994, and became a vocal critic of Tony Blair's New Labour project that pushed the party to the centre.
After not being selected to become Labour's candidate in the 2000 London mayoral election, Livingstone successfully contested the election as an independent candidate. In his first term as Mayor of London, he introduced the congestion charge, Oyster card, and articulated buses, and unsuccessfully opposed the government's privatisation of London Underground. Despite his opposition to Blair's government on issues like the Iraq War, Livingstone was invited to stand for re-election as Labour's candidate and was re-elected in 2004, expanding his transport policies, introducing new environmental regulations, and enacting civil rights policies. Initiating and overseeing London's winning bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and ushering in a major redevelopment of the city's East End, his leadership after the 7 July 2005 London bombings was widely praised. He stood unsuccessfully as Labour candidate in London's mayoral elections of 2008 and 2012, losing both to the Conservative candidate Boris Johnson. A longstanding critic of Israeli policy regarding the Palestinians, his comments about Adolf Hitler and Zionism resulted in his suspension from the Labour Party in 2016 .
Characterised as "the only truly successful left-wing British politician of modern times", Livingstone is a highly controversial figure in British politics. Supporters lauded his efforts to improve rights for women, LGBT people, and ethnic minorities in London, but critics accused him of cronyism and antisemitism and lambasted his connections to Islamists, Marxists and Irish republicans.
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted 14 years ago…”
Victory speech on being elected first Mayor of London, 14 years after the abolition of the Greater London Council, of which he was leader. Friday 5 May 2000
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ken-reclaims-the-capital-279169.html
As quoted in "Livingstone says Bush is `greatest threat to life on planet'" by Nigel Morris, in The Independent (18 November 2003), p. 5.
Evening Standard (21 July 1981)
Remarks made regarding the management of Metronet and the PPP of the London Underground during a Mayor's press conference (13 March 2007)
“If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It”
Title of his autobiography (1987)
A variant of a slightly earlier quote: "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal" ( 1978 https://books.google.com/books?id=RPgcAQAAMAAJ&q=%22if+voting+could+change+anything%22&dq=%22if+voting+could+change+anything%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjg4IDksJHMAhVPxWMKHc7sBikQ6AEIJTAC)
Variant: If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.
Remarks at press conference, 21 March 2006, criticising the businessmen David and Simon Reuben who were obstructing land acquisition for the 2012 Olympics. The Reuben brothers were in fact born in India, to parents of an Iraqi Jewish heritage. Quoted in "Gaffe lands Livingstone back in trouble" by Jill Sherman in The Times (22 March 2006)
Commentary in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
Referring to the IRA's Chelsea Barracks bomb of 10 October 1981, in a speech to the Cambridge University Tory Reform Group (12 October 1981), quoted in The Times (13 October 1981).
Response to London bombings (7 July 2005)
Press conference (8 July 2005)
NME, 15 April 2000
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20000529082432/http://www.nme.com/newsdesk/20000411113543.html
Criticising Londoners who drive 4x4s in an interview with GMTV (broadcast 23 May 2004), as quoted in "Drivers of 4X4s in London are idiots, says Livingstone" by Ross Lydall in Evening Standard (21 May 2004)
“He asked to see me again. I think he wants me for my body.”
Remarks to the press after meeting Secretary of State for Transport Norman Fowler (18 June 1981), quoted in Citizen Ken (1984) by John Carvel, p. 107.
In a GLC debate on the Marshall Report into GLC powers, 1979, quoted in "Beyond Our Ken" (1985) by Andrew Forrester, Stewart Lansley and Robin Pauley, p. 43
Press conference (8 July 2005)
As quoted in "Livingstone says Bush is 'greatest threat to life on planet'" by Nigel Morris, in The Independent (18 November 2003), p. 5.
Remarks at the London Assembly meeting, criticising the Assembly's approach to allegations against Mayoral adviser Lee Jasper (13 February 2008)
While being interviewed in the street during his dispute with several embassies for not paying Central London's congestion charge (late March 2006). The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article697933.ece, 28 March 2006. <sup>[ New York Times comment http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/world/europe/02parking.html?_r=1&oref=slogin, 2 May 2006.]</sup>
“Only some ghastly dehumanised moron would want to get rid of the Routemaster.”
Said in 2001. Four years later the Routemaster bus was withdrawn from ordinary passenger service by Transport for London, a decision supported by Livingstone. Quoted in "Livingstone and the 'morons' have killed off the Routemaster" by Philip Johnston in Daily Telegraph (24 October 2005) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/10/24/do2401.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/24/ixportal.html.
“You cannot just have a socialist revolution in Norwood and nowhere else.”
Statement to the South London Press in 1977 on moving constituencies away from Norwood in the 1977 GLC election. Quoted in Citizen Ken (1984) by John Carvel, p. 61
City Limits, 1 May 1986, quoted in The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations by Robert Andrews
Source: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VK0vR4fsaigC&pg=PT1062&lpg=PT1062&dq=ken+livingstone+%22squalid+and+irresponsible%22&source=bl&ots=F0cC08cyjK&sig=DZt7eobEcCQDQlN7fFdbQZ2suhQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkiaiz6pHZAhXvp1kKHQvUAnwQ6AEISzAI#v=onepage&q=ken%20livingstone%20%22squalid%20and%20irresponsible%22&f=false
Remarks at a public meeting criticising George W. Bush (8 May 2003) , as quoted in "Mayor's Amazing Attack on Bush" by Ross Lydall in the Evening Standard (8 May 2003)
Statement following the London Labour Party ballot for a Mayoral candidate, in which Livingstone was defeated by Frank Dobson due to the electoral system chosen by the party, as quoted in "Winner is challenged to refuse `tainted' victory" in The Guardian (21 February 2000), p. 2.
Speech at the last meeting of the Greater London Council (27 March 1986); quoted in "GLC : The Inside Story" (1999) by Wes Whitehouse, p. 174.
Remarks concerning Oliver Finegold, Evening Standard journalist. in Guardian Unlimited (13 December 2005) http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,1666536,00.html
Quoted in Conservative Party Election Broadcast, 19 May 1987
Source: http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/pebs/con87.htm
The Daily Telegraph (17 May, 1986)
Commentary in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
Exchange with Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold (8 February 2005). These remarks led to an official investigation into Livingstone's conduct. Transcript from Guardian Unlimited http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,1717652,00.html
“The next election will bring an influx of over 120 new MPs who will be overwhelmingly on the Left.”
The Guardian (23 September 1985)
Press conference (8 July 2005)
Commentary http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/comment/0,9236,1430185,00.html in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
Response to London bombings (7 July 2005)
Referring to the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer, in Daily Mail (29 July 1981).
As quoted in "Now Livingstone is standing up for Mao's mass murder" by Jane Merrick in Daily Mail (19 May 2006), p. 48.
As quoted in "New Labour, new Ken? Think again as Mayor speaks" by Joe Murphy in Evening Standard (8 April 2004), p. 19.
Interview with The Guardian (7 April 2004)
As quoted in Socialist Organiser, the newspaper of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory (March 1979)
“Everyone is bisexual. Almost everyone has the sexual potential for anything.”
Speech to Harrow Gay Unity Group (18 August 1981)
"Livingstone isolated after refusal to back down in Nazi jibe row" by Hugh Muir in The Guardian (16 February 2005), p. 2.
they can go out and raise the money amongst their shareholders who came here to get their snout in the trough — they screwed it up; they are not getting any of our money!
Remarks made regarding the management of Metronet and the PPP of the London Underground during a Mayor's press conference (13 March 2007)
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