Ken Livingstone tonight made two quite remarkable statements tonight at the latest Soundings / Comment is Free debate on ‘Who owns the Progressive future?’ The first was boneheaded, the second demonstrated a quite remarkable disdain for democracy and human freedom.
John Harris, who was chairing the event, pressed Livingstone on whether he welcomed the introduction of the 45p rate in the PBR and whether he saw this as an important shift—albeit more symbolic than anything else—to the left. Livingstone replied:
A few moments later, Livingstone mused that ‘real change is going to come out of China’ So in Livingstone’s warped world-view, progressives should look to a Communist dictatorship for inspiration. The immediate rebuttal of this point by fellow panellist Aditya Chakrabortty, the economics leader writer for The Guardian, provided reassurance that there is a decent, principled left which will have no truck with such thinking.‘I’d rather have 45 percent than 40 percent but I’d rather have 75 percent.’
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate, free for a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.
UNLOCK ACCESS Try a month freeAlready a subscriber? Log in