Ken on 'The incompetence of Boris and the crisis for Cameron...'

Former Mayor Ken Livingstone sums up the chaos of two months of Boris Johnson running London.

When the story broke on Thursday, Ken gave support to the Tory who beat him, saying Boris was right to 'stick by his man' unless and until the allegations produced evidence.

But with Boris's choice of Deputy Mayor Ray Lewis forced to resign after it was revealed he wasn't even a magistrate as he claimed, Ken told the BBC Today programme this morning:

In a mere two months in office Boris Johnson has already suffered the second resignation from among his most senior officials - Deputy Mayor Ray Lewis following Deputy Chief of Staff James McGrath two weeks ago.

In my entire eight years in office I suffered only one enforced resignation of any of my most senior officials, Lee Jasper - and that only after seven years.

This extreme contrast shows vividly the incompetence of Boris Johnson and his administration.

It is an equal crisis for David Cameron who, it should be remembered, chose to make his first photo opportunity as Tory leader with Ray Lewis.

Spot on Ken!

Local man appears in Ken Livingstone's biography...

Intrigued to learn from last week's Local newspaper that Brynley Heaven who now lives in a village near Bourne worked closely with Ken Livingstone some three decades ago.

Brynley, one-time prolific commenter on this blog, even gets a mention in the latest biography on Ken, which came out during the recent Mayoral campaign...

More recently, Brynley has been an active campaigner against data chips in wheelie bins, which he believe SKDC will inevitably use to collect information on the amount of material we throw away.

Isn't it amazing what you learn in The Local...more HERE.

Portillo says Boris's campaign was insulting...

'Boris's election campaign was an insult to my intelligence...'

Not my words. Not Ken Livingstone who Boris beat to become Mayor of London last week, but the judgement of former Tory Cabinet Minister and ex-London MP MICHAEL PORTILLO, speaking earlier tonight (Thursday) on BBC One's 'This Week' programme.

It's not the first time in the past few days that Portillo has put the boot into Boris.

On election night, there was little to cheer for Labour activists as the bad news after bad news came in from around the country...

But round about 3am, (yes, i know i'm an anorak!!), I found myself agreeing with Michael Portillo on his assessment of Boris.

He was asked whether he thought Boris had managed to re-launch himself as a serious politician in the Mayoral campaign.

Michael laughed, expressing doubt that Boris would ever be serious...Then, Michael Portillo paid a much warmer tribute to the Tory's bogeyman 'Red' Ken Livingstone, who he described as "a remarkable politician" who had achieved many positive things as Mayor - including introducing the highly popular Oyster travel card.

So as Boris hands out City Hall jobs to his mates, I wouldn't put any money on seeing Michael Portillo in the frame...

Surely it was just a dream...

Sorry no posts for over a week...Just woke after a terrible dream: Tories win 300 council seats and Boris becomes Mayor of London. OK, more a nightmare than a dream.

Seriously, i was so busy working on the local elections, that my blogging had to take a back seat: I worked in London, and after seeing Ken defeated, I went into hibernation, and managed to get through the holiday weekend refusing to read a single newspaper, or the internet...

But I'm back...hope you are all well.

Clearly a lot to catch up on, so, as they say...

Watch this space...

Blog-ads make more strange bedfellows...

Had to chuckle at this extract from today's Diary in The Guardian:

Much embarrassment at the Green Arrow Forum, the bloggers' website that supports the BNP. At the top of the site is an advertisement for singlemuslim.com, the UK's leading Muslim marriage service. This has caused much consternation to the perplexed BNP bloggers.

It transpires that the ads are placed by Google, whose computerised brain must have noted that the Green Arrow constantly refers to Islam and thus thought this would be an appropriate site for lonely Muslim hearts. Some BNP bloggers have also twigged this and suggested that in future, Islam be referred to only as "the threat to the west" to avoid confusion.

Even more enjoyable than the recent ad promoting Ken Livingstone which appeared on Tory Iain Dale's Diary...

Four stories that tell you all you need to know about today's Tory Party...

Four stories from today's trawl of the net reveal more than I need to know about the state of the Conservative Party under David Cameron's leadership:

First, two black Conservative Party members with a shocking tale of how they were treated like animals when they turned up for an annual meeting.

Next, Boris Johnson forced to apologise over a racist article published in The Spectator when he was editor.

The Tory choice to be Mayor the most diverse city in the world was quite rightly taken to task by a leading black lawyer.

One of the truly offensive Spectator articles claimed black people have smaller brains and are less intelligent. It claimed:

Orientals ... have larger brains and higher IQ scores. Blacks are at the other pole.

In another Spectator article, black American basketball players were described as having

arms hanging below their knees and tongues sticking out.

You may recall that earlier in the campaign, the Tory choice to run the most diverse city in the world, was forced to apologise for articles he personally wrote in which he described Africans as piccaninnies with watermelon smiles.

Third story (which may of course not be entirely unrelated to the second): The BNP calls on their supporters to vote for Boris Johnson as their second preference in the election for London Mayor.

Two telling points to note on this one:

1. The BNP did not endorse the Conservative candidate in previous Mayoral elections but are willing to tell their supporters to vote Boris Johnson in this one.

2. Last week, Labour's Ken Livingstone won the support of a very different minority party who advised its supporters to vote Ken as second preference.

For good measure, here's the fourth story:

A Conservative councillor on Tyneside has today been forced to resign after suggesting euthanasia as a way to cut the cost of caring for vulnerable children!

The common thread in all four stories...the Tories are still the same old nasty party.

PM slams Boris on bus blunder...UPDATED

Gordon Brown has added to the pressure on Boris Johnson to withdraw his £100 million-a-year bus blunder which I posted on earlier.

At Prime Minister's Questions a few minutes ago, Gordon Brown said:

Bus usage in London is now at its highest level since 1965, there are more people using buses in London than in any time in forty years.

This would be put at risk by proposals that would cost £100 million if applied by the Conservative Party, that would mean bus fares would rise. It would discourage ordinary people from using the bus service.

We are determined to maintain bus ridership in London, and we are determined to maintain bus services in London.

This follows demands from Transport Minister and London MP Jim Fitzpatrick for the Tories to officially withdraw Boris Johnson's botched Transport Manifesto after his £100 million a year gaffe was exposed.

Before the Prime Minister spoke Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Transport, said Boris Johnson's bus policy was in tatters. She said:

Boris Johnson's got it wrong and it's time for him to come clean to Londoners.

Boris again avoided commenting on his £100 million gaffe a few minutes later when he asked a question.

Instead, he helpfully provided Gordon Brown with the opportunity to praise Ken Livingstone on delivering 10,000 more police to get crime down.

Gordon Brown said:

There are more police in London than ever as a result of a Labour Mayor.

The PM also highlighted Boris's previous demand for cuts on police spending in London.

UPDATE: Guardian writer Dave Hill digs deeper...

Boris attacks pedestrians and a civil servant after bus blunder…

Boris Johnson’s transport manifesto for London is in tatters as he desperately attempts to divert attention from his spectacular £100 million a year bus blunder...

On the Vanessa Feltz show, Boris Johnson pledged to replace all London’s bendy buses with new vehicles with conductors. He claimed it would cost just £8 million-a-year.

But his £8m claim has been widely rubbished - transport experts calculate the real cost to Londoners would be £112 million a year. That's more than 13 times difference and a massive £100 million-a-year Boris black hole which would inevitably mean steep fare rises.

It will also lead to serious questions about Boris's competence to deliver over £40 billion of investment to modernise London's transport over the next few years. It is crucial for instance that the massive £16 billion Crossrail project is delivered on-time and on-budget.

Today, Mayor Ken Livingstone issued an open email challenge to Boris over his gaping gaffe:

Boris responded by attacking London’s Transport Commissioner, claiming he never used London buses – which is rich indeed coming from Oxfordshire MP Boris!

Then Boris went on the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and uttered this gem:

"…as a cyclist I think pedestrians are the most dangerous features on the road at the moment."

I wonder how many cyclists he thinks have been killed lately by pedestrians on the streets of London...

But Boris's out of touch moment-of-the-day must surely go to Boris’s attempt to try to change the dates of the Bejing Olympics, as reported by journalist Andrew Grice

* More on Boris Johnson’s £100million bus blunder at www.kenlivingstone.com/media

The real difference between Ken and Boris...

In the Mayoral elections in 2000, Ken Livingstone turned down a donation of free campaign offices from a wealthy businessman to avoid a potential conflict of interest in any future planning application, in which the Mayor might have to make a ruling.

But The Guardian revealed last month that Boris Johnson, the Tory candidate in the current election, accepted a similar offer from the same Japanese businessman.

It's a story which starkly illustrates the real difference between Labour's Ken Livingstone and Tory Boris Johnson.

Following the headlines, Boris has apparently now agreed to pay rent on the offices which he is using as his campaign HQ.

I look forward to seeing a follow-up by the London Standard hack Andrew Gilligan who is running a nasty campaign to get his mate Boris elected Mayor of London...but I won't hold my breath...

Tory blogsite says Vote Labour...

Had one of those double-take moments when I saw the campaign ad that's just appeared on the front page of Iain Dale's blog...

The excellent ad is surprisingly not for Iain's mate, the Tory candidate Boris Johnson...

Even more surprising - and amusing - it's a reminder to vote in May's London Mayoral elections for, wait for it....

Yes...it's for Labour's Ken Livingstone.

Nice one Ken!

More bile from Bojo's best mate...

Evening Standard hack Andrew Gilligan launches yet attempt tonight to damage Ken Livingstone and promote his mate Boris Johnson to be Mayor of London.

Gilligan's latest bile targets a range of individuals and organisations who support Ken: from Doreen Lawrence OBE, the mother of murdered schoolboy Stephen Lawrence to Greenpeace and the New Nation newspaper.

Gilligan claims none of them declare their 'interests' in backing Ken for Mayor.

True to form given Gilligan's agenda, tonight's front page fails to mention his own interests in promoting Conservative candidate Boris Johnson.

Gilligan fails to mention that when he was under fire at the BBC for dodgy reporting, it was The Spectator, that staged a 'Save Andrew Gilligan'
dinner at top restaurant Luigi's stuffed with prominent Tories.

And who was The Spectator's editor at the time?

Step forward Boris Johnson.

Andrew Gilligan also fails to mention that after he was forced to resign from the BBC, he was even given a job by The Spectator: where his editor was Boris.

Now he's on The Standard, it's not surprising that Andrew Gilligan is so keen to return the favours and campaign for his old mucker.

Any self-respecting journalist would wish to declare such a clear interest in promoting a particular candidate...but not Gilligan who seems incapable of understanding why Londoners back Ken Livingstone.

It's hardly surprising that decent people feel they have an 'interest' in stopping a Tory who wrote about African people as
'piccaninnies'.

No wonder Doreen Lawrence OBE gave her opinion that Boris Johnson is 'not an appropriate person to run a multi-cultural city like London' and that if elected Mayor he would destroy London's unity.

Like decent people everywhere, Mrs Lawrence was shocked by the 'piccaninnies' revelation. And of course, it was not the first time the Lawrences had cause to feel offended by Boris Johnson...I'm sure they've not forgotten Boris's attack on some of the Macpherson Inquiry recommendations as 'born of political correctness'.

And remember, the Macpherson Inquiry was set up by Labour after the 1997 General Election: for years the Tory Government denied the Lawrences an inquiry into the racist murder of their son.

It's no surprise either that environmental organisations like Greenpeace fear a Boris nightmare.

You only have to look at Ken's vision for a Low Carbon London...

Or his light bulb amnesty, which offered a free energy-saver for every Londoner.

Or his bold plan to increase the congestion charge for Chelsea tractors and the biggest gas-guzzling sports cars - a sensible move described as 'bonkers' by Boris Johnson.

Last week, Greenpeace understandably welcomed Ken Livingstone's Climate Change Action Plan for London.

John Sauven, director of Greenpeace said no other leader was on the same page as Ken Livingstone in showing how the largest city in Europe can combat climate change.

Other environmental pressure groups spoke warmly of Ken's climate change plan.

The Green Party'sPrincipal Speaker welcomed it. And Friends of the Earth's Director Tony Juniper went on record saying: 'Hats off to Ken Livingstone for continuing to show political leadership on tackling climate change...'

Like Greenpeace, their 'interest' is surely returning a Mayor who regularly demonstrates that he is prepared to take the tough action needed to protect London -unlike Boris Johnson, who even opposed the Kyoto Treaty.

But you're not likely to read that in the London Standard...

Boris faces conflict charges as Ken opens poll lead...

Despite this week's disgraceful Dispatches hatchet-job and the never-ending daily bile spat out by the London Standard, Ken Livingstone has opened up a poll lead over Boris Johnson in the campaign to be Mayor of London.

And Saturday's Guardian turns the spotlight on Boris Johnson who faces a conflict of interest charge and interesting revelations about who's paying for his campaign HQ...

The latest YouGov/ITV London poll was taken after the Dispatches programme this week and puts Labour's Ken on 44 per cent, Tory Boris Johnson on 40 per cent and LibDem Brian Paddick on eight per cent.

Good to see Londoners standing up to the barrage of outrageous attacks on their Mayor. Londoners know Ken and trust him to do what's best for London.

It's already the dirtiest campaign ever mounted against Ken Livingstone - and I expect the daily venom against him which oozes from the London Standard to intensify as the campaign hots up.

But Londoners have come to expect outrageous personal and political attacks on Ken's integrity and they see straight through them.

I hope Londoners will go on rejecting the lies and unsubstantiated allegations. If Ken is judged on the real issues such as what he has delivered on transport, crime, affordable housing, the environment and community relations, he'll win hands down on May the First.

* Meanwhile, Boris was on the campaign trail today - but not in London.

The Tory chancer's visit to his constituency in Oxfordshire serves to highlight how close Boris is to London issues.

So close in fact, that he didn't bother to turn up once for the crucial House of Commons on the £16 billion Crossrail line which has been given the go-ahead by the Labour Government.

Boris Johnson gets a roasting over 'piccaninnies' disgrace...

If you're sensitive about strong language, probably best not reading this account of an event this week which saw Boris Johnson, the Tory candidate for London Mayor, get a public roasting for describing African people as 'piccaninnies' with 'water-melon smiles...'

Channel 4 wields the hatchet on Ken Livingstone...

I missed tonight's much-trailed Dispatches programme on London Mayor Ken Livingstone, which apparently took six months in the making.

Fellow-blogger Luke Akehurst who did see it confirms my suspicions that Channel Four presented a disgraceful hour-long hatchet job, long on one-sided comment, but woefully short on fact.

Ken's achievements in helping make London one of the world's most vibrant cities over the past eight years are there for all to see.

But can anyone tell me when Londoners - or any of us - will be shown the TV documentary resulting from a similar six months research into Tory challenger Boris Johnson...?

No.

Didn't think so.

Radical answers needed on Lincs roads...?

Lincolnshire roads have seen one of the biggest increases in traffic over the past decade - with central London the only place in the country to see a fall in vehicle numbers since 1997, according to tonight's Lincolnshire Echo.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone took a lot of flak when he brought in the controversial Congestion Zone - and it now costs £8 a day to drive into the centre of the capital.

But it's clearly effective in cutting traffic when all else has failed - and of course improving air quality in the capital. Ken has used the revenue generated by the Congestion Charge to massively invest in buses and the tube.

The result is that today, London is the only major city in the world to shift travellers out of their cars and onto public transport.

Local campaigners say Lincolnshire is heading for 'traffic hell' if action is not taken soon.

Central London and rural Lincolnshire could hardly be different, of course.

But radical solutions sometimes achieve results, as Ken clearly demonstrates.

I don't pretend to have all the answers - but I've long been convinced that sooner or later, we'll have to have some sort of Park-and-Ride service in the Deepings area to meet the extra traffic on the A15 Peterborough-Bourne corridor caused the huge increase in development in recent years.

What do you think?