Ken Livingstone

Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone, born 17 June 1945, is a British Labour Party politician who has twice held the leading political role in London local government, firstly as the Leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until the Council was abolished in 1986, and secondly as the first elected Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. He is standing as the Labour Party candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election.
He first joined the Labour Party in 1968 and was elected to represent Norwood at the Greater London Council in 1973, before moving to represent Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1977, and then to Paddington in 1981, the same year he also became the Leader of the Council itself. In 1999, Livingstone sought the Labour nomination to be the first elected Mayor of London, although his candidacy was opposed by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. Despite losing the Labour candidacy to Frank Dobson, Livingstone contested the 2000 election successfully as an independent candidate regardless, which led to his expulsion from the Labour Party.
During his first term, he organised an upgrade of the London transport system and introduced the London congestion charge. He later rejoined the Labour Party, and was re-elected in 2004, following which he continued supporting and expanding such policies. In 2008, he was defeated in his attempt to gain a third term by Conservative candidate Boris Johnson. The following year, he announced his intention to seek the position again in 2012. He received the Labour Party nomination in 2010 and is campaigning for a third non-consecutive term ahead of the election in May 2012.
Livingstone is considered to be politically aligned to the left-wing of British politics within the Labour Party, he considers himself a socialist, and his mayoralty was characterised for its support of social liberalism. His vocal opposition to the policies introduced by the Conservative Government led by Margaret Thatcher, coupled with his socialist beliefs, led to him gaining the moniker of "Red Ken" in the mainstream press. A polarising figure, Livingstone has been praised by the left for his support of socialist world leaders like Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and his support for Palestine but also criticised by his opponents for extending official invitations to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Islamist cleric.


Political views


Livingstone describes himself as a socialist, stating in 2007 that "I still believe one day that the idea that the main means of production are owned by private individuals... will be considered as anti-democratic as the idea serfs could be tied to the land. But I will not be alive when that day comes.
In September 2010, Livingstone criticised the public spending cuts announced by the recently elected Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, which he stated amounted to £45 billion a year for London alone, and were "beyond Margaret Thatcher's wildest dreams" as well as threatening to result in widespread division and poverty across the capital.


Personal life


Livingstone married Christine Pamela Chapman in 1973; the marriage ended in divorce in 1982. Around that time he became involved with Kate Allen, now director of Amnesty International in the UK; the couple separated in November 2001.
Livingstone and Emma Beal, also his office manager, have a son, Thomas, born 14 December 2002 at the University College Hospital, London, and a daughter, Mia, born on 20 March 2004 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. He also has three other children[146] whose existence was only publicly revealed during the 2008 mayoral election. Livingstone has declined to explain, respecting the privacy of the mothers, whether his other children were conceived through intercourse or by artificial insemination. He married Beal on 26 September 2009 in the Mappin Pavilion of London Zoo and lives in North London
Livingstone is a noted bon vivant, having twice worked as a food critic for London's Evening Standard newspaper and various magazines.
He is known for his enthusiasm for gardening and keeping and breeding newts. He was the first person to breed the Western Dwarf Clawed Frog Hymenochirus curtipes in captivity.
Although nominally raised into a Christian family, Livingstone renounced monotheistic belief when he was eleven, instead becoming an atheist, and in a 2005 interview he commented that in doing so he had rejected "mumbo-jumbo in favour of rational science." The British Humt Association identifies him as one of its distinguished supporters.


References in popular culture


As a politician comfortable in light-hearted and satirical situations, in 1990, Livingstone was the first MP to appear on the topical panel show Have I Got News For You. For a long time, his first six appearances would stand as the show's record; his current tally of nine - the most recent being in December 2010 - fall one short of the record for guest appearances as a panellist (without appearing as host or team captain) held by Andy Hamilton.
In 1993, he appeared on the sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey playing himself in a live debate with Teddy Taylor. The same year he was also interviewed for Thirty Years in the TARDIS, a documentary celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television science-fiction series Doctor Who.
In 1995, Livingstone appeared on the track "Ernold Same" by the band Blur, taken from the album The Great Escape. Livingstone provided spoken word vocals and was listed as 'The Right On Ken Livingstone.' He appeared at the 2000 Meltdown festival curated by Scott Walker providing vocals during Blur's performance of "Ernold Same".

Livingstone appeared in one of a series of advertisements extolling the virtues of cheese in the 1980s, appropriately endorsing red Leicester. On the other side of politics, Edward Heath advertised Danish Blue. Their respective choices were a result of their parties' official colours - red for the Labour Party, and blue for the Conservative Party.
Ken Livingstone is also the subject of a Kate Bush song called "Ken", b-side to single Love and Anger which was written for the episode of The Comic Strip entitled "GLC: The Carnage Continues.