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Ken, what was your proudest moment? 'Grinding New Labour into the dust'
Nicholas Cecil and Jason Beattie02.04.08
Ken Livingstone re-opened the row with his own party today after saying his proudest achievement was smashing the New Labour machine.
He appeared to boast of "grinding" the Labour Party "into the dust" to become Mayor of London as an independent after being blocked from standing as the party's candidate.
In an apparent out-take from a campaign video posted on the internet, the London Mayor is asked: "Looking back on your political history, what would you say was your proudest moment?"
He replies: "Oh, it's taking on and smashing the New Labour machine in 2000, when Tony Blair wouldn't let me run for Mayor, and just grinding them into the dust." Laughing, Mr Livingstone adds: "But you won't be able to use that one."
Some of Mr Livingstone's aides reportedly tried to pass off the comments as an April Fool joke.
But Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, the arch Blairite brought in to help with Mr Livingstone's campaign, is thought to have been irritated by the remarks.
"Sometimes things may seem funny in advance but they fall flat when they become public," her aide said.
Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson seized on Mr Livingstone's apparent gaffe.
He said: "What a sad indictment that when asked to describe his greatest political achievement, Ken Livingstone cannot name making streets safer, improving public transport, protecting open spaces or providing value for money.
"What more evidence do Londoners need that this Mayor has had his day?"
The clip is believed to have been filmed 10 days ago and to been due for release on the Re-elect Ken website.
A spokesman for Mr Livingstone said: "In the course of 30 to 40 minutes of filming, Ken made an off-the-cuff joke.
"Ken is most proud of being elected Mayor of London twice, but being Mayor doesn't mean you need to drop your sense of humour."
Sources close to Gordon Brown denied that the Prime Minister had lost confidence in the Livingstone campaign.
However, the attack on New Labour could anger some voters considering backing Mr Livingstone in the mayoral poll next month.
Tony Blair fought to block Mr Livingstone from becoming Labour's mayoral candidate in 2000.
But the former prime minister was left embarrassed when Mr Livingstone proceeded to leave the Labour party and to run successfully as an independent, beating Labour's candidate Frank Dobson.
Mr Livingstone rejoined in 2004, shortly before securing his second term in City Hall. Both Mr Blair and Gordon Brown have since insisted how well they work with the Labour Mayor, despite rumours to the contrary.
Reader views (5)
Has Ken actually said a positive message? All I hear is him slinging mud at Boris. This has to be the most negative campaign ever.
- Trffid, London
Ken did make a significant dent into Blair's strategy, but nobody cares about that now. As all the issues were public at the time, as was his re-admission to the Labour Party when Blair - not Ken - realised his mistake. The truth is, this is all water under the bridge, so who really cares about an 'out-take'?
- Harold Barber, London, England
Seems to me that Livingstone is starting to remember why Londoners liked him in the first place. I wonder if Londoners are too..?
- Dave Hill, Hackney, East London
This is just another problem with Ken, he makes crass comments and when they come back to bite him he always says it was a joke.
Why would anyone vote for any mayor anyway this is all just a big money grabbing con imposed on Londoners by the government and the media. How much money does the mayors office take from Londoners?
- Dr Finlays Casebook, London, UK
Wow, let the mud fly! Looks like this is going to be a dirty election. It's a bit like the Democrats Clinton/ Obama fight in the USA, there's a danger that so much mud will fly that people won't want to elect either of them (Red Ken/ Dippy Boris) - which I wouldn't incidentally...
- Paul Williams, Egham, UK
