Ken Livingstone was closely linked to an extreme Left-winger who took cash from Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, a new biography claims.

Andrew Hosken's book Ken: The Ups And Downs Of Ken Livingstone, publishes documents claiming that Workers Revolutionary Party leader Gerry Healy received more than £500,000 from Libya and £19,000 from Iraq.

Mr Healy used his party's printing presses to produce Labour Herald, edited by Mr Livingstone and former Lambeth leader "Red" Ted Knight in the Eighties. The book states that Mr Livingstone also spoke at Mr Healy's funeral and wrote the introduction to a biography of his life.

The new biography, which sparked revelations that the Mayor had fathered three children in secret, also contains claims Mr Livingstone's advisers at City Hall are members of Left-wing group Socialist Action.

Mr Livingstone told Hosken he could not remember whether he ever asked Mr Healy if he had taken money from regimes such as Libya - but stressed he had not been aware of such links and had never personally accepted such funds.

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