Ken Livingstone

The man himself.

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Kenneth Robert "Red Ken" Livingstone (1945–) is a British politician. He is the former Mayor of London, and the first person to occupy that office as well as the last leader of the Greater London Council. Nicknamed 'Red Ken' and 'the Newt' (from pet amphibians). He is also one of the leaders of the somewhat unhinged group Unite Against Fascism.

He is the scourge of Margaret Thatcher. Even though she's dead, and his leadership of the GLC led to her abolishing it.

What's all this, then?

Livingstone is best known for pioneering the introduction of the "congestion charge," a fee levied on people driving private vehicles into central London.

Livingstone also appointed to his administration a disproportionate number of members of a Trotskyist group, Socialist Action. This revelation brought a bevy of the usual slop about secret communist infiltration, which completely ignored the fact that Socialist Action's role in his administration had been brought to light by one of Socialist Action's own members, who complained that Livingstone was not a Trotskyist and was merely exploiting the group to get more power for himself.

In March 2012 he received criticism from Jewish Labour-supporters in London. Reportedly, he argued that Labour is unlikely to receive many votes from the Jewish community on the grounds that Jews are generally too wealthy to support a left-wing party.. He also likes to say that Hitler supported Zionism. This hasn't gone well for him.

In 2016 Livingstone was suspended from Labour for anti-Semitism. In May 2018 he quit the party shortly before he would have been expelled.

References

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