Ken Livingstone, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

    

Ken Livingstone

Mayor of London between 2000 and 2008

Date of Birth: 17-Jun-1945

Place of Birth: Lambeth, England, United Kingdom

Profession: politician, autobiographer

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About Ken Livingstone

  • Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as 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.
  • A former member of the Labour Party, he was on the party's left wing, ideologically identifying as a democratic socialist. Born in Lambeth, South London, to a working-class family, Livingstone joined Labour in 1968 and was elected to represent Norwood at the GLC in 1973, Hackney North and Stoke Newington in 1977, and Paddington in 1981.
  • That year, Labour representatives on the GLC elected him as the council's leader.
  • Attempting to reduce London Underground fares, his plans were challenged in court and declared unlawful; more successful were his schemes to benefit women and underprivileged minorities, despite stiff opposition.
  • The mainstream media gave him the moniker "Red Ken" in reference to his socialist beliefs and heavily criticised him for supporting controversial issues like republicanism, LGBT rights, and a United Ireland.
  • Livingstone was a vocal opponent of the Conservative Party government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which in 1986 abolished the GLC.
  • Elected as MP for Brent East in 1987, he became closely associated with anti-racist campaigns.
  • He unsuccessfully stood for Labour Party leader on a leftist platform in 1992 and 1994, in the latter losing to Tony Blair.
  • Livingstone became a vocal critic of Blair's New Labour project that pushed the party closer to the centre and won the 1997 general election. After failing to become Labour's candidate in the 2000 London mayoral election, Livingstone successfully contested the election as an independent candidate.
  • In his first term as Mayor of London, he introduced the congestion charge, Oyster card, and articulated buses, and unsuccessfully opposed the government's privatisation of London Underground.
  • Despite his opposition to Blair's government on issues like the Iraq War, Livingstone was invited to stand for re-election as Labour's candidate and was re-elected in 2004, expanding his transport policies, introducing new environmental regulations, and enacting civil rights policies.
  • Initiating and overseeing London's winning bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and ushering in a major redevelopment of the city's East End, his leadership after the 7 July 2005 London bombings was widely praised.
  • He stood unsuccessfully as Labour candidate in London's mayoral elections of 2008 and 2012, losing both to the Conservative candidate Boris Johnson.
  • A longstanding critic of Israeli policy regarding the Palestinians, his comments about the relationship between Adolf Hitler and Zionism resulted in his suspension from the Labour Party in 2016; he then resigned in 2018. Characterised by Charles Moore as "the only truly successful left-wing British politician of modern times", Livingstone was praised for his efforts to improve rights for women, LGBT people, and ethnic minorities in London, but also faced allegations of cronyism and antisemitism and was criticised for his connections to Islamists, Marxists, and Irish republicans.

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