• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

MayorWatch

London News and Comment

  • NEWS
  • Twitter

Ken Livingstone – Labour Mayoral Candidate (2008)

September 27, 2007 - Staff

Ken Livingstone was born in Streatham, South London on 14th June 1945.
He joined the London Labour Party in 1969 and in 1970 enrolled at
Phillipa Fawcett Teacher Training College.

Between 1971 and 1978
he served as a member of Lambeth Council, holding the position of
vice-chair of the housing committee from 1971-73. In 1978 he was
elected to Camden Council where he remained until 1982. From 1974 until
1986 he was a member of the Regional Executive of the Greater London
Labour Party.

In 1973 he became member of the GLC. Following the
GLC elections of 1981 Livingstone ousted the incumbent Labour Leader,
Andrew Mackintosh, and took control of London Government.

He is
commonly known for championing a policy of equality for all Londoners –
regardless of sexuality, race, gender or religion. Such policies made
him a hero to many Londoners and a Bogey Man to the Conservative
Government and media.

In 1986 Margaret Thatcher’s government
abolished the GLC prompting Livingstone to stand for the Brent East
parliamentary seat. He held the seat until his election as Mayor in
2000.

Successive Labour leaderships left Livingstone on the
backbenches with no formal role or platform. Appearances on popular and
high profile shows such as ‘Have I Got News For You’ helped keep
Livingstone in the public eye.

Following the successful
referendum on the establishment of a Greater London Authority,
Livingstone was nominated in the internal Labour ballot to select a
Mayoral candidate.

After much internal party wrangling including
a selection process many say as rigged against him, Livingstone left
Labour and launched an ultimately successful Independent Mayoral bid.

In
2004 he was re-admitted to the Labour Party and selected as their
candidate for the 2004 elections. He was re-elected beating his closest
rival, the Conservative candidate Steve Norris, with a majority of over
150,000.

Official Campaign Site: www.kenlivingstone.com

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Tagged With: 2008 GLA Election

RECENT UPDATES

Tube and rail users to benefit from Oyster weekly fares cap

Mayor and TfL call on ministers to help plug funding gap

Tube to get full mobile phone coverage from 2024

TfL says Direct Vision Standard is already making HGVs safer for London road users




POPULAR

City Hall to move to Docklands as Mayor seeks to raise £55m for frontline services

‘Concern’ over TfL’s ability to deliver major projects in wake of Crossrail cost overruns

City Hall halts London Overground ticket office closures but many will still see opening hours reduced

Transport for London confirms bus cuts will go ahead despite passenger opposition

GOT A STORY?

As the original London news and scrutiny site we've been casting an eye over the capital's public services and politicians since 1999.

 

Many of our top stories started with a tip-off from a reader - if you've got something you'd like us to cover get in touch and we'll do the rest.

Stay In Touch

  • E-mail
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.