As I dine with Ken Livingstone, in the Randolph hotel, courtesy of the Union, I am struck by his forthrightness, a prominent feature of his character. Indeed, as the Union president-elect arrives, Ken quips, ‘Every time I see a Union president, I can’t help but think of Boris.’
His loathing for the current Mayor of London is palpable and it’s not surprising that he gives a scathing response when asked whether Boris is performing his mayoral duties well. ‘Oh piss poor basically. For Boris, this is a stepping stone to the premiership and therefore instead of doing what mayors need to do, which is take risks and gamble, he’s going to shut everything down, do the absolute minimum and take lots of photo opportunities. He spends more time on a photo shoot with Kelly Brook than chairing the Waste and Recycling Board.’
However, Ken and Boris do see more eye to eye on the amnesty for illegal immigrants in the UK. While Boris is in favour of granting an amnesty for those who have been living here illegally for more than five years, Ken supports an immediate amnesty for all illegal immigrants. He praises the contribution of immigrants to our society, ‘Immigration is vital for London and New York, in order to keep them dynamic economies. The main reason why London is the only city or region within Europe that matches American levels of productivity and competitiveness, is because it’s the most open to immigrants.’
But will this policy simply encourage more illegal immigration? He’s pragmatic, ‘Well, who knows. We’ve got somewhere between a quarter to a half illegals in London. They’re not paying tax, they’re exploited often by employers because they’re illegal, and it’s just an injustice. Your best bet is to give an amnesty to everyone – let them start paying tax, make sure they’re able to access English as second language classes and then put in place as you declare an amnesty, a system that you actually think would work and be fair.’
‘Blair was so far up the fundament of Bush, only the soles of his feet were visible’
London is the hub for protests over ethical and environmental issues. However, I ask him whether he thinks the police are trying to clamp down on this culture of activism, demonstrated for example by the death of Ian Tomlinson in the G20 protests.
Ken emphasises the important role that the mayor plays in directing the police. ‘We know that Boris wrote, ‘These protestors are like the Orcs of Mordor coming to destroy our city.’ Now if that was the line he was giving to the police, because the Commissioner and his seniors aren’t coming out ignorant, the message does filter down. I think Boris’ broad view is that no one should be allowed to protest against any policies unless he approves of it.’
Ken was refused permission to appear on EastEnders to promote a recycling campaign when he was still mayor. However, his TV hugging rival Boris, made his debut on the soap last month. Ken attributes this difference in treatment to the prejudices that the BBC hold against him. He declares that there are elements within the BBC that are ‘very pro-Boris’ and the coverage of BBC London during the mayoral contest was ‘horrendously biased’.
He doesn’t buy into the impartial ethos that the BBC claims to uphold. ‘An organisation, which is, what, 50,000 people, is not going to have one corporate identity ideology. You can’t say the BBC is liberal conservative; it’s so big, the different wings within it will have prejudices and they balance out. I think if anything the BBC is too respectable and under its current leadership, it’s been pretty spineless in not broadcasting the appeal for Palestinians after the war in Gaza. Even more bizarre was the decision not to broadcast the concert on climate change on grounds that it was partisan.’
Nicknamed ‘Red Ken’ by the newspapers, he is unbothered by this allusion to his alleged communist inclinations. ‘It was The Sun and it was a way in which they could imply I was a communist without me suing them. It became a term of affection, and there’s actually a Sikh temple in Southall where the opening plaque says, ‘Opened by Red Ken Livingstone.’ They thought it was my name because it was prefixed on everything they had ever read about me.’
When he was suspended from office for four weeks after comparing a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, Ken claimed he had been the victim of a 24-year hate campaign by newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard. He believes the media is guilty of trivialisation. ‘Each year that passes, even in good papers like the Financial Times, the Guardian and The Independent, there’s less news and more opinion. News is expensive to collect. When you get to the comics, there’s nothing in them at all.’
So is he disillusioned with the media? ‘Disillusioned would be the wrong term. Angry would be a better one. I think they’ve failed their responsibility to the public, which is to inform.’
Tony Blair is another irksome figure for Ken and he doesn’t believe that the former prime minister should lead Europe. ‘He has a real problem, he didn’t join the Euro, we didn’t join Schengen, he spent all his time so far up the fundament of George Bush, only the soles of his feet were still visible, so he’s most probably not a unifying force. Better we should have some dull Belgium bureaucrat who no one has ever heard of. Whoever represents a trading block of 500 million people, with our access to wealth, will get access in China and America.’
As for Labour itself, Ken is unsure whether the party can win the general election. ‘It’s impossible to say. Although they’ve got huge downsides at the moment, the one thing they’ve got going for them is on the central issue on how rapidly you cut public spending to rebalance the budget. Cameron and Osborne look as though they’re happy to make cuts that even Thatcher wouldn’t dare. I think they’re a pair of nasty little men and they’re going to make it a very much nastier country. If people can pick up on that, then Labour’s got a chance.’
Ken is determined to succeed Boris as mayor and he explains why London is special to him, ‘The way we coped with the terrorist attack on 7th July 2005; not a single Londoner attacked another. In many parts of the world, communal violence would have killed more people than the original bombs and everyone just stood together. I grew up in a city where there’s a very homogenous culture and it’s very dull. London is just the most amazing city to be in, in terms of the mix of peoples and the cultures…and as I have discovered, you can spend your entire life never learning to drive.’
Now for the hottest political question of the year, which Brown, Cameron and Clegg have tackled: What is your favourite biscuit? True to his frank nature with no Brownesque dithering, he replies, ‘It’s a sort of a HobNob but it’s oat-based and milk chocolate.’
