Kenneth Robert Livingstone was born on 17 June 1945 and is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008.
130 Facts About Ken Livingstone
2.
Ken Livingstone served as the Member of Parliament for Brent East from 1987 to 2001.
3.
Ken Livingstone was a vocal opponent of the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which in 1986 abolished the GLC.
4.
Ken Livingstone attempted to stand for the position of Labour Party leader following Neil Kinnock's resignation in 1992, but failed to get enough nominations.
5.
Ken Livingstone became a vocal critic of Tony Blair's New Labour project that pushed the party closer to the political centre and won the 1997 general election.
6.
Ken Livingstone was born in his grandmother's house at 21 Shrubbery Road Streatham, South London, on 17 June 1945.
7.
Ken Livingstone's family was working class; his mother, Ethel Ada, had been born in Southwark before training as an acrobatic dancer and working on the music hall circuit prior to the Second World War.
8.
The family was nominally Anglican, although Ken Livingstone abandoned Christianity when he was 11, becoming an atheist.
9.
Ken Livingstone related that he became "an argumentative cocky little brat" at home, bringing up topics at the dinner table to enrage his father.
10.
Ken Livingstone started work rather than stay on for the non-compulsory sixth form, which required six O-levels.
11.
Interested in the region's wildlife, Ken Livingstone rescued an infant ostrich from being eaten, donating it to the Lagos children's zoo.
12.
Ken Livingstone joined the Labour Party in March 1968, when he was 23 years old, later describing it as "one of the few recorded instances of a rat climbing aboard a sinking ship".
13.
In October 1971, Ken Livingstone's father died of a heart attack; his mother soon moved to Lincoln.
14.
Ken Livingstone increased the number of compulsory purchase orders for private-rented properties, converting them to council housing.
15.
Ken Livingstone stood as the leftist candidate for the Chair of the Lambeth Housing Committee in April 1973, but was defeated by David Stimpson, who undid many of Ken Livingstone and Carr's reforms.
16.
In June 1972, after a campaign orchestrated by Eddie Lopez, Ken Livingstone was selected as the Labour candidate for Norwood in the Greater London Council.
17.
Ken Livingstone gained notoriety in the Hampstead and Highgate Express for publicly reaffirming his support for the controversial issue of LGBT rights, declaring he supported the reduction of the age of consent for male same-sex activity from 21 to 16, in line with the different-sex age of consent.
18.
Ken Livingstone joined the activists, on 15 July 1978 helping unify small left wing groups as the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory.
19.
Ken Livingstone backed the strikers, urging Camden Council to grant their demands, eventually getting his way.
20.
In September 1980, Ken Livingstone separated from his wife Christine, though they remained amicable.
21.
Ken Livingstone turned his attention to achieving a GLC Labour victory, exchanging his safe seat in Hackney North for the marginal Inner London seat at Paddington; in May 1981 he won the seat by 2,397 votes.
22.
Cutler and the Conservatives learned of Ken Livingstone's plans, proclaiming that a GLC Labour victory would lead to a Marxist takeover of London and then Britain; the Conservative press picked up the story, with the Daily Express using the headline of "Why We Must Stop These Red Wreckers".
23.
At 5 o'clock, McIntosh held a GLC Labour meeting; the attendees called an immediate leadership election, in which Ken Livingstone defeated him by 30 votes to 20.
24.
Ken Livingstone initiated an open-door policy allowing citizens to hold meetings in the committee rooms free of charge, with County Hall gaining the nickname of "the People's Palace".
25.
Ken Livingstone took great pleasure watching the disgust expressed by some Conservative GLC members when non-members began using the building's restaurant.
26.
Ken Livingstone received the levels of national press attention normally reserved for senior Members of Parliament.
27.
The satirical journal Private Eye referred to him as "Ken Leninspart", a combination of Vladimir Lenin and the German left-wing group, the Spartacus League, proceeding to erroneously claim that Livingstone received funding from the Libyan Jamahiriya.
28.
At the time, the Brent East Labour Party was characterised by competing factions, with Ken Livingstone attempting to gain the support of both the hard and soft left.
29.
In 1983, Livingstone began co-presenting a late night television chat show with Janet Street-Porter for London Weekend Television.
30.
The Greater London Labour Manifesto for the 1981 elections, although written under McIntosh's leadership, had been determined by a special conference of the London Labour Party in October 1980 in which Ken Livingstone's speech had been decisive on transport policy.
31.
GLC transport chairman Dave Wetzel labelled the judges "Vandals in Ermine" while Ken Livingstone maintained his belief that the judicial decision was politically motivated.
32.
Ken Livingstone's administration founded the Greater London Enterprise Board to create employment by investing in the industrial regeneration of London, with the funds provided by the council, its workers' pension fund and the financial markets.
33.
Ken Livingstone later claimed that GLC bureaucrats obstructed much of what GLEB tried to achieve.
34.
The Ken Livingstone administration took a strong stance on the issue of nuclear disarmament, proclaiming London a "nuclear-free zone".
35.
Ken Livingstone's administration advocated measures to improve the lives of minorities within London, who together made up a sizeable percentage of the city's population; what Reg Race called "the Rainbow Coalition".
36.
In July 1981, Ken Livingstone founded the Ethnic Minorities Committee, the Police Committee, and the Gay and Lesbian Working Party, and in June 1982, a Women's Committee was established.
37.
Ken Livingstone permitted Irish republican protesters to hold a vigil on the steps of County Hall throughout the wedding celebrations, both actions that brought strong press criticism.
38.
In September 1981, a weekly newspaper, the Labour Herald, was announced with Ken Livingstone, Ted Knight and Matthew Warburton as co-editors.
39.
Evidence is lacking to indicate Ken Livingstone knew about the funding at the time.
40.
Ken Livingstone agreed to meet Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein President and IRA-supporter, after Adams was invited to London by Labour members of the Troops Out campaign in December 1982.
41.
In February 1983, Ken Livingstone visited Adams in his constituency of West Belfast, receiving a hero's welcome from local republicans.
42.
Such was the backlash by judges, civil servants, politicians and journalists that Ken Livingstone failed not only in the key objective of bringing down Thatcher but in implementing many of his policies.
43.
Ken Livingstone publicly attributed Labour's electoral failure to the leading role that the party's capitalist wing had played, arguing that the party should promote a socialist program of "national reconstruction", overseeing the nationalisation of banks and major industry and allowing for the investment in new development.
44.
The GLC was formally abolished at midnight on 31 March 1986, with Ken Livingstone marking the occasion by holding a free concert at Festival Hall.
45.
Ken Livingstone defeated Reg Freeson in the selection process to represent Labour for the north-west London constituency of Brent East in the 1987 general election.
46.
Ken Livingstone took on Maureen Charleson as his personal secretary, who would remain with him for the next 20 years.
47.
In September 1987 Ken Livingstone was elected to Labour's National Executive Committee, although he was voted off in October 1989, to be replaced by John Prescott.
48.
Ken Livingstone refused to pay the controversial poll tax until it was revoked, and was one of the 55 Labour MPs to oppose British involvement in the Gulf War in January 1991.
49.
However, Tony Blair was selected, with Ken Livingstone predicting that he would be "the most right-wing leader" in Labour history.
50.
Blair and his supporters sought to further expunge leftist elements and taking it to the centre, thus creating "New Labour", with Peter Mandelson asserting that figures like Ken Livingstone represented "the enemy" of reform.
51.
Ken Livingstone continued his association with members of Trotskyite group Socialist Action, with the group's leader John Ross becoming his most important adviser, teaching him about economics.
52.
When Socialist Action founded a campaign group, the Anti-Racist Alliance, Ken Livingstone came to be closely associated with it.
53.
In October 1991 Ken Livingstone began writing a column for Rupert Murdoch's right-wing tabloid The Sun, a controversial move among British socialists.
54.
In 1995, Ken Livingstone was invited to appear on the track "Ernold Same" by the band Blur.
55.
Ken Livingstone would be scrutinised by the elected London Assembly, whose first chairman was Trevor Phillips, a Labour politician who had a reciprocated dislike of Livingstone.
56.
Ken Livingstone was permitted twelve principal advisers, many of whom were members of Socialist Action or people whom he had worked with on the GLC.
57.
Ken Livingstone sought to remove the pigeons from Trafalgar Square; he tried to evict seed sellers and introduced hawks to scare the pigeons off.
58.
Ken Livingstone pedestrianised the north side of the Square, transforming it into a public space with a cafe, public toilets, and a lift for the disabled.
59.
At a May 2002 party in Tufnell Park, Ken Livingstone got into an argument with Beal's friend Robin Hedges, a reporter for the Evening Standard.
60.
Hedges subsequently fell from a wall, bruised his ribs and went to hospital; the press claimed that Ken Livingstone had pushed him, although he insisted that he did not.
61.
In 2002, Ken Livingstone came out in support of a proposal for the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London.
62.
Ken Livingstone insisted however that the Games must be held in the East End, and result in an urban regeneration program centred on the Lea Valley.
63.
Ken Livingstone gained the support of Labour's culture secretary Tessa Jowell, who convinced the government to back the plans in May 2003.
64.
Ken Livingstone did not oppose this, encouraging racial equality and celebrating the city's multiculturalism.
65.
Ken Livingstone condemned the UK's involvement in the Iraq War and involved himself in the Stop the War campaign.
66.
Ken Livingstone organised an alternative "Peace Reception" at City Hall "for everybody who is not George Bush," with anti-war Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic as the guest of honour.
67.
In campaigning for the election, Ken Livingstone highlighted his record: the congestion charge, free bus travel for under 11s, 1000 extra buses, and 5000 extra police officers, whereas his main competitor, the Conservative Steven Norris, campaigned primarily on a policy of abolishing the congestion charge.
68.
Ken Livingstone continued to court controversy throughout the campaign; in June 2004 he was quoted on The Guardian's website as saying: "I just long for the day I wake up and find that the Saudi Royal Family are swinging from lamp-posts and they've got a proper government that represents the people of Saudi Arabia", for which he was widely criticised.
69.
Amidst the War on Terror and threat from Al Qaeda, Ken Livingstone sought to improve ties with London's Muslim community, agreeing to meet with Islamist groups like the Muslim Association of Britain alongside moderate organisations.
70.
Ken Livingstone described al-Qaradawi as "one of the most authoritative Muslim scholars in the world today" and argued that his influence could help stop the radicalisation of young British Muslims.
71.
Ken Livingstone continued to champion the Palestinian cause in the Israel-Palestine conflict, in March 2005 accusing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of being a "war criminal" responsible for the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre.
72.
On 6 July 2005, in a ceremony held in Singapore attended by Ken Livingstone, London was announced as the victor, resulting in widespread celebration.
73.
Ken Livingstone gave a speech from Singapore denouncing the attackers as terrorists, before immediately returning to London.
74.
Police initially misrepresented the killing, resulting in widespread condemnation, although Ken Livingstone defended the actions of Metropolitan Police commissioner Ian Blair.
75.
Ken Livingstone denied he was antisemitic, holding regular meetings with Jewish groups and introducing public Hanukkah celebrations in Trafalgar Square in December 2005.
76.
Ken Livingstone was again described as antisemitic in March 2006 for asserting, after conflict over a major building project, that Indian-born Jewish businessmen David and Simon Reuben should "go back to Iran and see if they can do better under the ayatollahs".
77.
Ken Livingstone said later that he did not know they were Jewish.
78.
In March 2006, Ken Livingstone criticised foreign embassies who refused to pay the congestion charge under the conditions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
79.
Meanwhile, Ken Livingstone felt vindicated in his former opposition to public private partnership when one of the companies who now controlled part of the Underground, Metronet, collapsed in July 2007, with the state having to intervene to protect the service.
80.
Ken Livingstone considered this necessary to fill the demand for office space, but was criticised, most notably by Charles, Prince of Wales, concerned about the preservation of historic skylines.
81.
In May 2006, Ken Livingstone welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to London, hosting an event for him at City Hall.
82.
Ken Livingstone proceeded to accept the presidency of the pro-Chavez Venezuelan Information Centre.
83.
Ken Livingstone helped organise the first "Eid in the Square" event at Trafalgar Square in commemoration of the Islamic Eid ul-Fitr festival in October 2006.
84.
In May 2007, Ken Livingstone travelled to New York City to attend the C40 conference of major world cities to deal with environmentalist issues.
85.
Ken Livingstone selected the anniversary of the Haitian Revolution on which to do it, and in his tearful speech asserted that it was the resistance of enslaved persons rather than the philanthropy of wealthy whites that led to the trade's end.
86.
Ken Livingstone intended to stand again as Labour candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral election, this time against Conservative candidate Boris Johnson.
87.
Ken Livingstone stood by Jasper and claimed that the Evening Standard campaign was racist, but ultimately agreed to suspend Jasper while a full investigation took place.
88.
Intent on giving Venezuela the "advice that we promised", Ken Livingstone announced in August 2008 that he would be advising urban planning in Caracas.
89.
Ken Livingstone predicted that in twenty years it could become a "first-world city", and hoped to help with his "very extensive network of contacts both domestically and internationally".
90.
In January 2009, Ken Livingstone responded to the Gaza War by calling for the European Union and the UK to recall their ambassadors to Israel.
91.
Ken Livingstone stood as Labour's candidate for the 2012 London mayoral election, again challenging Johnson.
92.
Ken Livingstone's campaign attracted criticism when he joked that the election was "a simple choice between good and evil".
93.
Johnson's campaign emphasised the accusation that Ken Livingstone was guilty of tax evasion, for which Ken Livingstone called Johnson a "bare-faced liar".
94.
The political scientist Andrew Crines believed that Ken Livingstone's campaign suffered from its focus on attacking Johnson rather than presenting an alternative, progressive vision of London's future.
95.
Crines suggested that after decades in the public eye, Ken Livingstone had come to be seen as an over-familiar and politically tired figure by the electorate.
96.
In May 2015, Ken Livingstone endorsed Sadiq Khan to be the Labour candidate for the 2016 London mayoral election, and, in July, endorsed Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election.
97.
Shadow defence minister Kevan Jones expressed the view that Ken Livingstone knew little about defence and that it would damage the party's reputation.
98.
Jones took offence, and while Ken Livingstone initially refused to apologise, he subsequently did so at Corbyn's urging.
99.
Ken Livingstone faced further criticism following a television appearance in which he stated that the perpetrators of the 2005 London bombings carried out their actions as retribution for UK involvement in the Iraq War.
100.
Ken Livingstone responded that, rather than "double standards", it was "different standards", he was paid for a speaking engagement where he would have told the room of the need for the City to invest more in the economy, which he felt was distinct from taking a political donation from a hedge fund manager.
101.
Ken Livingstone had been invited to discuss the suspension of Labour MP Naz Shah, after it became known Shah had shared a satirical map on Facebook suggesting that Israel should be relocated to the United States.
102.
Ken Livingstone described Shah's postings, which were made before she became an MP in 2015, as "rude and over-the-top" but not antisemitic, adding that he had never encountered antisemitism in Labour.
103.
Ken Livingstone defended his claim about Hitler and Zionism by reference to Lenni Brenner's Zionism in the Age of the Dictators, and many commentators suggested that Ken Livingstone was referring to the Haavara Agreement between Nazi Germany and the Zionist Federation of Germany.
104.
Jon Lansman, founder of the pro-Corbyn Momentum group, called for Ken Livingstone to leave politics altogether.
105.
Labour MP John Mann publicly confronted Ken Livingstone and accused him of being a "liar" and a "Nazi apologist".
106.
Ken Livingstone said there was a "well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic".
107.
Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson stated that it was "incomprehensible" that the NEC had not expelled Ken Livingstone; Corbyn, disappointed in Ken Livingstone's failure "to acknowledge or apologise for the hurt he has caused", said a new NEC investigation would consider the comments he made after his initial suspension.
108.
Ken Livingstone announced his resignation from Labour on 21 May 2018, saying the issues surrounding his suspension had become a distraction.
109.
Ken Livingstone's lawyers concluded that if he had been expelled, it would take at least two years to lodge an appeal.
110.
Ken Livingstone sought to minimise their offensive nature by stating that they were merely criticism of Israeli policy at a time of conflict with the Palestinians.
111.
Ken Livingstone alleged that scrutiny of Naz Shah's conduct was part of an apparent smear campaign by 'the Israel lobby' to stigmatise critics of Israel as antisemitic, as well as being aimed at undermining and disrupting the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn MP.
112.
In January 2022, Ken Livingstone announced his intention of joining the Green Party of England and Wales, although urged other socialists to remain within Labour and work towards "a Green-Labour coalition" government.
113.
Ken Livingstone never read philosophical books from a political point of view.
114.
Ken Livingstone had a gut feeling; he was always opposed to exploitation and inequalities in a big way.
115.
Ken Livingstone had a social conscience and wanted to do something about it.
116.
Ken Livingstone didn't consider taking up arms against anybody as a way forward or dramatically changing the electoral system.
117.
Ken Livingstone thought you could persuade and change the Labour Party.
118.
Ken Livingstone has not worked with those Marxist groups, such as the Socialist Workers Party and the Revolutionary Communist Party, who advocate the destruction of the Labour Party as the way forward for socialism, seeing their beliefs as incompatible with his own.
119.
Ken Livingstone has consistently opposed the actions of the Israeli government.
120.
Ken Livingstone has consistently rejected being defined under any particular ideological current of socialism.
121.
Historian Alwyn W Turner noted that Livingstone was a "gifted communicator and self-publicist" who was able to stump his opponents using his "mischievous sense of humour".
122.
Biographer John Carvel echoed these comments, highlighting that Ken Livingstone had a "talent for public speaking".
123.
Ken Livingstone was the first person to breed the Western Dwarf Clawed Frog Hymenochirus curtipes in captivity.
124.
Ken Livingstone is a big fan of The Godfather film franchise, stating that the actions of the criminal organisations within the movies are very much akin to the world of politics.
125.
Ken Livingstone married Christine Pamela Chapman in 1973; the marriage ended in divorce in 1982.
126.
Ken Livingstone then entered a relationship with his office manager, Emma Beal; they have a son and a daughter together.
127.
Ken Livingstone had fathered three children prior to 2000; a boy by one mother and two girls by another.
128.
The children were born to two women while Livingstone was involved with Kate Allen, according to an article by Decca Aitkenhead:.
129.
Ken Livingstone was widely recognised for having improved the status of minority groups in London.
130.
Ken Livingstone was deemed a "formidable operator" at City Hall, with an "intimate knowledge" of London.