Kenneth Robert „Ken“ Livingstone ist ein britischer Politiker . Er amtierte von 2000 bis 2008 als erster direkt gewählter Bürgermeister von London . Zuvor war er von 1981 bis 1986 Vorsitzender des Greater London Council und von 1987 bis 2001 Unterhaus-Abgeordneter gewesen. Sein Spitzname lautet „Red Ken“ aufgrund seiner ausgeprägt linken Politik. Er zählt sich selbst zu den demokratischen Sozialisten und gilt als eine der schillerndsten politischen Figuren des Landes.
Livingstone trat 1968 der Labour Party bei und wurde 1973 in den GLC gewählt. Als Vorsitzender des GLC setzte er sich ab 1981 für niedrigere Fahrpreise im öffentlichen Personennahverkehr Londons ein, doch seine Maßnahmen wurden gerichtlich angefochten und für ungültig erklärt. Erfolgreicher war er mit Förderprogrammen für Frauen und Minderheiten, trotz starker Opposition. Livingstone war ein lautstarker Gegner der Politik der konservativen Premierministerin Margaret Thatcher, was 1986 zur Auflösung des GLC führte. Er trat zu den Unterhauswahlen 1987 an und wurde im Wahlkreis Brent East gewählt. Livingstone kandidierte erfolglos um den Vorsitz der Labour Party und kritisierte den neuen zentristischen Kurs der Partei .
Gegen den erklärten Willen von Premierminister Tony Blair kandidierte Livingstone 2000 erfolgreich bei den ersten Londoner Bürgermeisterwahlen. Er war als unabhängiger Kandidat angetreten, was zu seinem vorübergehenden Parteiausschluss geführt hatte. Während seiner ersten Amtszeit reorganisierte er das Londoner Verkehrswesen. Trotz seiner Ablehnung der britischen Beteiligung am Irakkrieg wurde er 2004 wieder in die Partei aufgenommen und sicherte sich die Wiederwahl. 2008 und 2012 kandidierte er ebenfalls, unterlag aber beide Male dem Konservativen Boris Johnson, woraufhin er sich aus der Politik zurückzog. 2018 wurde er wegen als antisemitisch kritisierten Äußerungen auf unbestimmte Zeit aus der Labour Party ausgeschlossen.
Wikipedia
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted 14 years ago…”
Victory speech on being elected first Mayor of London, 14 years after the abolition of the Greater London Council, of which he was leader. Friday 5 May 2000
Quelle: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ken-reclaims-the-capital-279169.html
Remarks at press conference, 21 March 2006, criticising the businessmen David and Simon Reuben who were obstructing land acquisition for the 2012 Olympics. The Reuben brothers were in fact born in India, to parents of an Iraqi Jewish heritage. Quoted in "Gaffe lands Livingstone back in trouble" by Jill Sherman in The Times (22 March 2006)
As quoted in "Livingstone says Bush is `greatest threat to life on planet'" by Nigel Morris, in The Independent (18 November 2003), p. 5.
“If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It”
Title of his autobiography (1987)
A variant of a slightly earlier quote: "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal" ( 1978 https://books.google.com/books?id=RPgcAQAAMAAJ&q=%22if+voting+could+change+anything%22&dq=%22if+voting+could+change+anything%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjg4IDksJHMAhVPxWMKHc7sBikQ6AEIJTAC)
Variante: If voting changed anything, they'd abolish it.
Evening Standard (21 July 1981)
Remarks made regarding the management of Metronet and the PPP of the London Underground during a Mayor's press conference (13 March 2007)
Referring to the IRA's Chelsea Barracks bomb of 10 October 1981, in a speech to the Cambridge University Tory Reform Group (12 October 1981), quoted in The Times (13 October 1981).
Response to London bombings (7 July 2005)
While being interviewed in the street during his dispute with several embassies for not paying Central London's congestion charge (late March 2006). The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article697933.ece, 28 March 2006. <sup>[ New York Times comment http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/world/europe/02parking.html?_r=1&oref=slogin, 2 May 2006.]</sup>
“Only some ghastly dehumanised moron would want to get rid of the Routemaster.”
Said in 2001. Four years later the Routemaster bus was withdrawn from ordinary passenger service by Transport for London, a decision supported by Livingstone. Quoted in "Livingstone and the 'morons' have killed off the Routemaster" by Philip Johnston in Daily Telegraph (24 October 2005) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/10/24/do2401.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/24/ixportal.html.
In a GLC debate on the Marshall Report into GLC powers, 1979, quoted in "Beyond Our Ken" (1985) by Andrew Forrester, Stewart Lansley and Robin Pauley, p. 43
“You cannot just have a socialist revolution in Norwood and nowhere else.”
Statement to the South London Press in 1977 on moving constituencies away from Norwood in the 1977 GLC election. Quoted in Citizen Ken (1984) by John Carvel, p. 61
Press conference (8 July 2005)
City Limits, 1 May 1986, quoted in The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations by Robert Andrews
Quelle: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VK0vR4fsaigC&pg=PT1062&lpg=PT1062&dq=ken+livingstone+%22squalid+and+irresponsible%22&source=bl&ots=F0cC08cyjK&sig=DZt7eobEcCQDQlN7fFdbQZ2suhQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkiaiz6pHZAhXvp1kKHQvUAnwQ6AEISzAI#v=onepage&q=ken%20livingstone%20%22squalid%20and%20irresponsible%22&f=false
Criticising Londoners who drive 4x4s in an interview with GMTV (broadcast 23 May 2004), as quoted in "Drivers of 4X4s in London are idiots, says Livingstone" by Ross Lydall in Evening Standard (21 May 2004)
Commentary in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
Commentary in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
Remarks at a public meeting criticising George W. Bush (8 May 2003) , as quoted in "Mayor's Amazing Attack on Bush" by Ross Lydall in the Evening Standard (8 May 2003)
Statement following the London Labour Party ballot for a Mayoral candidate, in which Livingstone was defeated by Frank Dobson due to the electoral system chosen by the party, as quoted in "Winner is challenged to refuse `tainted' victory" in The Guardian (21 February 2000), p. 2.
Speech at the last meeting of the Greater London Council (27 March 1986); quoted in "GLC : The Inside Story" (1999) by Wes Whitehouse, p. 174.
Remarks concerning Oliver Finegold, Evening Standard journalist. in Guardian Unlimited (13 December 2005) http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,1666536,00.html
Quoted in Conservative Party Election Broadcast, 19 May 1987
Quelle: http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/pebs/con87.htm
The Daily Telegraph (17 May, 1986)
Commentary in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
“He asked to see me again. I think he wants me for my body.”
Remarks to the press after meeting Secretary of State for Transport Norman Fowler (18 June 1981), quoted in Citizen Ken (1984) by John Carvel, p. 107.
Exchange with Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold (8 February 2005). These remarks led to an official investigation into Livingstone's conduct. Transcript from Guardian Unlimited http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,1717652,00.html
Press conference (8 July 2005)
NME, 15 April 2000
Quelle: https://web.archive.org/web/20000529082432/http://www.nme.com/newsdesk/20000411113543.html
Commentary http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/comment/0,9236,1430185,00.html in The Guardian (4 March 2005)
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