Jew World Order

• Veteran campaigner Livingstone: ‘This is my last election’
• Took 992,273 votes to Boris Johnson’s 1,054,811
• Ken: ‘These are the worst times for 80 years and Londoners needed a mayor to help them get through this very difficult period’

By
Nick Enoch

PUBLISHED:

19:33 EST, 4 May 2012

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UPDATED:

19:37 EST, 4 May 2012

For four decades, he has negotiated obstacles placed in his way by foes and erstwhile friends alike.

But tonight, an emotional Ken Livingstone announced his retirement from frontline politics after he was defeated by Boris Johnson in the election for Mayor of London.

He said it would be his ‘last election’ and that he was ‘sincerely sorry’ he had failed to win for Londoners in ‘the defeat I most regret’.

Mr Livingstone, 66, said: ‘This is my last election. Forty one years ago, almost to the day, I won my first election promising to build good council housing and introduce a free bus pass for pensioners.

‘Now I have lived long enough to get one myself. I did not think I necessary would at the time. Since then, I have won 11 more elections and lost three.

The candidates listen after the announcement of Boris Johnson’s victory in the London mayoral elections at City Hall tonight. Ken Livingstone wells up with emotion at the news of his defeat

As Boris Johnson was returned as London Major tonight, a watery eyed Ken Livingstone announced he would not stand again

Ken stood in the background as Boris took centre stage in City Hall tonight

‘But the one that I most regret
losing is this. This is the defeat I most regret, because these are the
worst times for 80 years and Londoners needed a mayor to help them get
through this very difficult period.’

In a closely fought race, Mr Johnson garnered 1,054,811 votes (51.53 per cent) to Mr Livingstone’s 992,273 (48.47 per cent).

But there is no denying that ‘Red’ Ken has had a good innings.

Way back in 1971, when he first stood for Lambeth Council, he proved the master of the dark arts of political manipulation, propaganda and campaigning.

Labour MP Michael Foot with Ken Livingstone – when he was leader of the Greater London Council – in Tottenham in 1983

‘Red’ Ken 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. Pictured with Sinn Fein MP Gerry Adams in 1989

A NARROW VICTORY FOR BORIS

Boris Johnson was re-elected as Mayor of London in a surprisingly narrow victory that saw him beat rival Ken Livingstone.

The
Conservative polled 1,054,811 to the Labour’s candidate’s 992,273
following a deeply personal and bitter campaign battle that saw the two
men clash furiously in public and in private.

Mr
Johnson vowed to continue ‘fighting for a good deal for Londoners’ from
government as he thanked voters for giving him a ‘new chance’.

The
Mayor outperformed his party, which suffered a significant drubbing
nationally, but failed to secure the massive win predicted by polls over
recent days that had put him as far as 12 points ahead.

Early
results in the contest also suggested the incumbent was significantly
in the lead and even senior Labour figures conceded the Tory was poised
to win.

But
later count declarations saw the gap reduce, fuelling speculation Mr
Johnson’s victory was not the done deal that had been tipped.

No candidate won enough votes in the first round to secure victory, meaning second preferences had to be counted.

Labour
secured eight of the London Assembly’s 14 first-past-the-post
constituencies, gaining two from the Tories, which left them with six.

In his most controversial years during the Eighties and Nineties, first as leader of the ultra-radical Greater London Council and then as a hard-left MP for Brent, he was untouchable at the ballot box.

Even when Tony Blair kicked him out
of the Labour Party in a desperate bid to stop him becoming London mayor
in 2000, Mr Livingstone still emerged triumphant having run as an
independent.

Exactly four years ago, his political
obituary was penned by many pundits after Mr Johnson dramatically
brought to an end his eight-year reign at City
Hall.

Reports of his demise
proved as exaggerated as Mark Twain’s: within two years, he had not
only secured the Labour candidacy for a fourth tilt but appeared
well-set to return in triumph.

But
a seasoned campaigner famous for defying the odds has proved unable to
win even when they were stacked in his favour – neither his personal nor
political magic working on Londoners.

And now that door has firmly closed.

It
is impossible to imagine Labour – the party which once begged him to
return to the fold – will ever again invest in Mr Livingstone as the
answer to its prayers in the capital.

As
his campaign unravelled – in the main thanks to controversy over his
personal taxes – high-profile Labour figures lined up to express regrets
at his return and tell voters not to back him.

Such was the poisoned atmosphere that
Labour election chief Tom Watson went so far as to say that voters
should ‘hold their noses’ and vote for his own party’s candidate.

That was a sentiment echoed by an eve-of-poll editorial in The Guardian.

In his 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 Tony Blair’s Government which was so determined to exclude him that it stitched up the selection process, to disastrous effect.

Ken and actress Maureen Lipman ( as Margaret Thatcher) ham it up outside the Festival Hall in 1984; right, winning the Gold Joker award in 1983 from a fan club

Ken on a march in April1, 1973 protesting against GLC proposals to enclose the Crystal Palace lakes and charge admission

Within two years of joining the Labour Party in 1969, Mr Livingstone was elected as a councillor in his native Lambeth in south London before joining the Greater London Council in 1974.

Soon notorious as ‘Red’ Ken, 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 hanging a banner from County Hall with the unemployment figure on it.

After she secured revenge by abolishing the GLC, he joined the ranks of Labour’s left wing MPs, harrying the Tories but also clashing frequently with the New Labour modernisers.

The Queen and Prince Philip, with Mr Livingstone at the official opening of the Thames flood barrier in 1984

When Mr 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 his every attempt to prevent his worst-case scenario backfired – and such was Mr Livingstone’s popularity that he was forced to ensure he was the official 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 a string of popular policies too – though tempered by the sorts of personal and professional controversies that have followed him throughout his career.

Comedian Eddie Izzard joins Ken Livingstone to protest against rail fare increases last year

In 2005, he narrowly avoided serious punishment when he likened a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard – a theme that also dogged this most recent campaign.

A close aide was forced to quit over claims he misused public funds and Mr Livingstone’s unusual private life, involving five children by three partners, was the subject of intense scrutiny.

Despite that – and the dismal opinion poll ratings of Gordon Brown’s unpopular Labour government – he may have clung on but for an equally maverick and colourful opponent in Boris Johnson.

With the roles almost exactly reversed four years on, for some time it looked possible that Mr Livingstone could cut short the Tory’s tenure.

But his momentum was dramatically arrested by a row over claims he set up his business affairs to avoid paying large sums in income tax – and his refusal to publish accounts in full.

A bitter personal battle between the two main rivals ensued – one which today’s results demonstrate was won by the incumbent.

As he contemplates defeat, Mr Livingstone will be a spectator rather than a key participant for the London Olympics he helped secure.

And he looks destined to be a spectator too when the contenders next line up for the race for the mayoralty. Just don’t expect him to be a quiet one.

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