Livingstone to run again
James Forsyth 12:51pm
Ken Livingstone has confirmed to The Guardian that he will run for Mayor of London in 2012. It is hard to see how anyone could stop Livingstone from winning the Labour nomination so we will likely have a reprise of this year’s Ken v. Boris race.
Livingstone is presumably betting that it will be harder for Boris to win with a Tory government in power than it was with a Labour one. The thought that he would, provided the Tories win the next election, be the most powerful Labour figure in the country must also be tempting him as well as the thought of being Mayor during the Olympics.
The recently released audit of London under Livingstone revealed general mismanagement but contained no killer fact which would bar Ken from running again.
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Comments
Verity
July 18th, 2008 1:12pmDuring his final year in office, he should abolish the post and the entire absurd gravy train of a City Hall. Having got along without a gravy train and person platfor for one Ken Livingstone for 2,000 years, I think London could manage.
TrevorH
July 18th, 2008 1:46pmNo killer fact, maybe no single killer fact --- there were hundreds of them.
You will be saying Browns been exonerated by the Charity Commission next.
Lord Elvis of Paisley
July 18th, 2008 1:47pm"The recently released audit of London under Livingstone revealed general mismanagement but contained no killer fact which would bar Ken from running again."
Leaving that aside what about his openly admitting that he lied over the costing of the Olympics in order to secure them thereby saddling the whole of the UK with an additional massive debt at a time when the Government are set to increase borrowing to cover the massive black hole in public finances.
Not looking so clever now, is it? Ken Livingstone doesn't do little lies, he does bloody whoppers and it is all of us that are going to pay!
THX1138
July 18th, 2008 1:49pmGreat news a proper race again. I bet Ken gets to cut the ribbon on the Olympics 2012, that has got to be worth a tenner don't you think?
The "Independent " FAB report was nothing but victors justice with four Tories & some partner from PWC who's firm was trousering 50K talk about conflict of interest & partisan political posturing & still no smoking gun.
Boris has even run a mile from the report, it will be kicked into the long grass & the LDN taxpayer will be down another 50K .
Lord Elvis of Paisley
July 18th, 2008 2:04pm"the LDN taxpayer will be down another 50K"
Whilst the country is £20bn+ thanks to Livingstone's little white lie...
David
July 18th, 2008 2:12pm"During his final year in office, he should abolish the post and the entire absurd gravy train of a City Hall."
You know, I suspect that the Mayor of London cannot overturn legislation. Probably for the best, that.
"Having got along without a gravy train and person platfor for one Ken Livingstone for 2,000 years, I think London could manage."
Not true. The Victorians, for example, were well aware that London was becoming too big to be totally mangeable, hence the development of the GLC, and there are certainly advantages to a general strategic body for a metropolis the size of London. The equivalent to what you suggest would be getting rid of the Mayor of New York; see how far that would take you....
THX1138
July 18th, 2008 2:27pmElvis- Everyone wants the Olympics except you Speccie whingers, anyway how much more tax do us LDN'ers pay into pot. I'm glad we are getting some of it back, better than paying for all you Scot's to sit in the pub all day on Incapacity benefit while the productive half of the country pays for it.
Rob
July 18th, 2008 2:47pmIt is hard to see how anyone could stop Livingstone from winning the Labour nomination.
Harriet Harman could. Under her 'positive' discrimination (state sanctioned racism) law. It would be illegal for Ken to be selected if there was a black, disabled, lesbian alternative.
Lord Elvis of Paisley
July 18th, 2008 2:55pmTHX - let me ask you. Would you rather see £20bn+ spent on a two week hurrah, or spent on giving our pensioners a decent retirement in houses they can afford to keep warm in?
Typical left thinking. Nothing but gesture politics whilst ignoring those really suffering hardship. Perhaps you could point me in the direction of some of those who want the Olympics. I've still to meet someone in real life who does.
THX1138
July 18th, 2008 3:18pmMe & Boris for a start. Gosh you are so boring, nothing worse than the puritan right & I'm sure that those pensioners should have been saving for their retirement instead of blowing it all on beer & tabs after all they knew it was coming rather than scrounging off the hard pressed taxpayer
The Olympics is a great way to spend the countries money & it's going to great for LDN & the UK & I can't wait.
Mike, Brighton
July 18th, 2008 3:26pmTHX1138 - I don't want the olympics and we should withdraw paying compensation to the Olympics Committee (more money for those swiss bank accounts). The circa £4Bn we'd pay in fines is far preferable to the £20-30Bn we'll pay for a two week money burning spectacular of performance "enhanced" athletes winning medals on behalf of their sponsors (and drug lab).
PS Has Labour got no other candidate other than Ken?
Ken - geddover it. You lost!
Verity
July 18th, 2008 3:30pmBoris can cancel the Olympics. No one wants them except the developers and steroid- assisted "amateur" athletes.
The steroid-fest is grinding to a halt in any case. Every record is either maxed out or will be by the end of the Beijing.
Imagine, a world free from self-centred, steroid-driven athletes with necks you could anchor an ocean liner to and legs that look as though they're made of coiled rope. Running around and jumping over things.
And all those pretentious parades to give the whole beanfest an air of international gravity.
By the time the London Olympics roll round, unless someone has the nerve to cancel it now, competitive sports,with no new records to be broken, will have given way to line-dancing, synchronised swimming (oh, wait a minute!), ice skating and fastest time applying acrylic nail extensions.
Give me a break.
Verity
July 18th, 2008 3:43pmOther new Olympics competitions to replace maxed out pole vaulting, etc., might be national teams of gays miming to YMCA; (or fastest time for themed redecorating of a room, choosing all new upholstery and running up new curtains); national teams of socialist bureaucrats poised at a counter across from randomly-chosen members of the public, to be the fastest after the bell to shout, "Racist!" (Extra points for sneering agility.)
Lord Elvis of Paisley
July 18th, 2008 3:50pmCould we not have 'Chav Baiting' as a new Olympic sport where the contestants are placed in a pit with a rabid rottweiler and the last one standing is the winner...
D Short
July 18th, 2008 4:29pmHe'll be a geriatric by then.
Surely Lab isn't so worried about him winning as an independent anymore; they should pick a much younger candidate.
As for 'killer facts', the money he spent on staff who could never dream of earning salaries like that elswhere than at City Hall should be plenty evidence.
The Chocolate Orange Inspector
July 18th, 2008 4:55pmLord Elvis of Paisley - I think this might be unfair on rottweilers and the RSPCA might step in.
Something to do with chav tattoos might work, though.
THX1138
July 18th, 2008 5:43pmElvis- We could throw in the jocks, the yids, the taffs, the pakis, the wogs, the towel heads & the pikeys or is it only the white working class that we should bait?
Ann
July 18th, 2008 6:05pmUtter nonsense, Numberplate. I have not met a single person up and down the country, Tory and Zanulab voters, including people who have never been on this site or even heard of it, who does not wish a pox upon the whole olympics scam.
You want the crook L. back? What ARE you on?
Ann
July 18th, 2008 6:07pmGay bashing by the regrettable Verity. Quelle surprise.
Ann
July 18th, 2008 6:08pmModerators - PLEASE REMOVE THIS DISGUSTING RACIST REFERENCE TO YIDS AND WOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks.
Ann
July 18th, 2008 6:11pm"I'm sure that those pensioners should have been saving for their retirement instead of blowing it all on beer & tabs after all they knew it was coming rather than scrounging off the hard pressed taxpayer"
Utter drivel. Those pensioners were the tax payers for 45 or so years. They paid tax and national insurance. It is THEIR money, not yours, that is being blown on this scam, courtesy of a disgusting liar.
Stephen Rothbart
July 18th, 2008 6:39pmIncidentally, what will be the carbon footprint of the Olympics in London. A bit more than having gas guzzling SUV's in an entire year? Livingstone? Hypocrit.
THX1138
July 18th, 2008 6:44pmAnn- I agree it's disgusting & offensive so is chav's that's the point of my post.
Please - My pensioners post was so obviously ironic. Of course I don't really think that, although I bet some readers were agreeing with me.
Verity
July 18th, 2008 7:00pmStephen Rothbart, Given that this is a figment of the imagination of St Al of Hanging Chads, does it matter? He's made a second fortune trading in these "carbon footprints". You have to hand it to him. Before, he was the largest individual shareholder in Occidental Petroleum. Now he has the market in "carbon footprint trading" cornered. Plus, I don't believe his family has ever given up their tobacco plantations.
An all around good egg!
Familiar Clown
July 18th, 2008 7:03pmLivingstone to run again?
Boris, you've got to hand it to him. Or not, as the case may be.
Lord Elvis of Paisley
July 18th, 2008 8:36pm"Elvis- We could throw in the jocks, the yids, the taffs, the pakis, the wogs, the towel heads & the pikeys or is it only the white working class that we should bait?"
Okay, let's call it 'Dole Scum Baiting' then. Is that better?
THX1138
July 18th, 2008 9:32pmElvis-I'll think you'll find "Jobseeker's Allowance scum baiting" now 'Dole Scum Baiting' is so 20th Century.
Yep it's fine by me as long as we chuck in all your country men on Incapacity benefit. You have a deal.
Silent Hunter
July 19th, 2008 9:01amI bet Dave Hill from the Grauniad put him up to this!
That should guarantee his contract for another 5 years. LOL
Fergus Pickering
July 19th, 2008 11:37amWhat are pikeys and how do they differ from chavs? Somebody told me I had pikey shoes. What kind of shoes would that be?
The Chocolate Orange Inspector
July 19th, 2008 1:15pm"Livingstone to run again" ...
Ahead of the baying mob, one assumes...
The Happy Carbon Footprint
July 19th, 2008 1:48pmHa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Oh, stop! My sides are hurting!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1036373/Abandoned-derelict-covered-graffiti-rubbish-What-left-Athens-9billion-Olympic-glory.html