KEN – NO STRANGER TO CONTROVERSY
Ken Livingstone’s suspension marks his latest clash with the Labour Party authorities and is not the first time he has been embroiled in an anti-Semitism row.
Mr Livingstone is no stranger to finding himself in hot water – in 2006 a High Court judge said he made “unnecessarily offensive” and “indefensible” remarks likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
But he was cleared of bringing the office of mayor into disrepute.
Mr Livingstone, confronted by the Evening Standard’s Oliver Finegold in February 2005, asked him if he was a “German war criminal” before being told by the reporter he was Jewish and responding “you are just like a concentration camp guard” who was “just doing it ‘cause you’re paid to”.
The resulting row ended up in the High Court in 2006 where Mr Justice Collins said: “When he knew that Mr Finegold was particularly offended because he was Jewish, to go on to compare him to a concentration camp guard was indefensible.
“He should have realised it would not only give great offence to him but was likely to be regarded as an entirely inappropriate observation by Jews in general, and those who had survived the Holocaust in particular.”
Mr Livingstone hailed the court ruling clearing him of bringing the office into disrepute as a “victory for democracy and common sense”.
Yesterday’s suspension follows a period which has seen Mr Livingstone enjoy a high profile within the party because of his support for leader and fellow left-winger Jeremy Corbyn.
The 70-year old has insisted he would rather be gardening than courting controversy, but “Red Ken” has consistently infuriated elements within his own party and his political opponents.
In Mr Livingstone’s heyday he was the left-wing thorn in the side of the Tories – Margaret Thatcher resorted to legislation to remove him in 1986 – as well as of Tony Blair’s government, which was so determined to exclude him that it stitched up the selection process, to disastrous effect.
But he first began to blaze a trail through London politics in the early 1970s.
Within two years of joining the Labour Party in 1969, Mr Livingstone was elected as a councillor in his native Lambeth in south London in 1971 before joining the Greater London Council in 1974.
He became a bete noire of the right, supporting everyone from striking miners to Sinn Fein’s leaders at the height of the IRA’s bombing campaign.
He famously goaded Mrs Thatcher across the Thames in Parliament during the turbulent 1980s by displaying the unemployment figures on City Hall.
After she secured revenge by abolishing the GLC, he joined the ranks of Labour’s left-wing MPs as member for Brent East from 1987-2001, harrying the Tories but also clashing frequently with the New Labour modernisers.
When Tony Blair restored devolved government to the capital – and created the powerful post of mayor – he certainly did not anticipate that it would open the door for his foe’s return.
But every attempt to prevent his worst-case scenario backfired, as Mr Livingstone stood as an independent against official Labour candidate Frank Dobson in 2000 and won. Such was Mr Livingstone’s popularity that Mr Blair was forced to welcome him back into the fold and ensure he was the official Labour candidate in 2004.
During that second term, Mr Livingstone won widespread praise for the way he stood up for London after the July 2005 suicide bombings and helped win the 2012 Olympic Games for the capital.
There were popular policies too – though tempered by the sorts of personal and professional controversies that have followed him throughout his career.
As well as the clash with Mr Finegold, a close aide was forced to quit over claims he misused public funds and Mr Livingstone’s colourful private life, involving five children by three partners, was the subject of intense scrutiny.
His time in office was ended in 2008 when he was defeated by an equally maverick and colourful opponent in Boris Johnson and the failed bid to return to City Hall in 2012 marked the end of his electoral ambitions.