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Ken Livingstone is sometimes called a Zone One mayor, but that is, of course, grossly unfair. Over the past four years, Livingstone has transcended the puny limits of London altogether, following his explorer namesake across the globe and pushing back the known frontiers of room service.
Who can forget, on one of his visits to China, his ringing condemnation of the Tiananmen Square massacre ("like the poll tax riots"); or his trip to Cuba, where he never made it to see Castro - but did have a "key meeting" with the first assistant foreign minister. Or perhaps his would-be Venezuela outing, where his hero Hugo Chavez refused to meet him at all.
Tony Blair's foreign travels were often criticised. But at least Blair actually got to see the top people before they humiliated him. And he was the Prime Minister at the time. By early 2007, official answers to the London Assembly showed that Livingstone, a municipal leader, had paid more official visits to Cuba, California and the south of France than to 10 London boroughs.
Ken portrays his excursions as a oneman export drive, selling London to the world. But his global embrace is rather selective. Nations he has insulted, such as Japan ("a bunch of war criminals"), the US (whose ambassador was a "chiselling little crook"), Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel, easily outnumber those he has wooed, without notable detriment to London's inward investment prospects. Does anyone really imagine that a single Indian investor comes here because he has seen Ken in a garland on Delhi's version of Sky News?
What Ken's outings really are is a symptom of something that's also featured in the election campaign: the contrast between the importance with which the Mayor views himself and the frankly often frivolous reality. Yesterday the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, told us that Mr Livingstone was the only serious candidate. I beg to differ. The real truth about Ken is that he takes some things far too seriously, and others not nearly seriously enough.
Among the things Ken takes too seriously (and Mr Miliband should sympathise here) is foreign policy, not really the job of a glorified local council. London does not need overseas embassies in such key world capitals as Havana and Caracas. The Mayor has zero influence on the Iraq war and the suffering of the Palestinians.
Whoever we elect on 1 May will make no difference to London's world status or economy, or to the contents of our pockets, and it is wrong to pretend otherwise. The Mayor has in his hands none of the main levers which help, or hinder, prosperity: no interest rate power, only very modest tax-raising powers.
Neither can Ken - I am sorry to break this to him - have more than the slightest effect on climate change. Why has he spent so much of the campaign talking about it? Any difference he does make will almost certainly be for the worse, as an independent King's College study of his new "C02 charge" confirmed.
According to the study, done for TfL itself, the new-model C-charge, Mr Livingstone's flagship manifesto policy, will actually increase congestion and increase pollution. It is pure gesture politics and thus exemplifies Ken's fundamental lack of seriousness.
There is no shortage of other examples. City Hall has signed up to a space programme; London will be the first British city to send a satellite into Earth orbit. I promise you this is not a joke. TfL is driving two double-decker buses overland to Beijing this summer, at a cost of £450,000, to "showcase the London transport system". How fitting that Ken's London should be " showcased" by a pointlessly extravagant PR gesture.
TfL is also spending a million pounds a bus on new hydrogen buses to end C02 emissions from the tailpipe. Sadly, the hydrogen fuel for the buses is produced using massive quantities of electricity - which in Britain is largely generated by, ahem, burning coal. The carbon footprint of the new buses may thus actually be greater than that of a conventional diesel bus.
Even in the areas where Mr Livingstone seeks to portray himself as competent and successful, there is startling failure and waste. TfL paid Bob Kiley £3,500 a day to do, by his own admission, "not much". Mr Kiley was one of around 100 TfL employees paid more than £100,000 a year; the Treasury, which runs the entire British economy, makes do with seven.
So cost control is one thing Mr Livingstone is not serious about. Integrity is another. Take the millions missing from the LDA, some of it squandered by his advisers' friends; the police inquiries; the straightforward lies and abuse with which the Mayor greeted legitimate questions. Unlike foreign policy and climate change, cost control and integrity are fundamental to London's public administration.
On the seriousness front, much has been made of. the "terrorist attack" scenario. But in any such attack, the Mayor's principal job is to issue a statement praising the emergency services. On 1 May, we are not electing the Prime Minister, or the Met Commissioner, or anyone who genuinely might have to take life-or-death decisions. We are electing the man who runs the Oyster card.
This is not to say the Mayoralty is unimportant. It could be important. It has a massive budget, and could do a lot of good. But it has made very little impact on most of the things that really matter - the shocking state of the Tube, the lack of investment in new rail, the skills shortage and structural unemployment of the East End, the near-impossibility for most Londoners of affording a home.
All those, unlike Palestine, or global warming, are within the Mayor's power to change. But instead, we have millionpound buses, grants to cronies, space programmes. That is why it is a fundamental, if surprisingly common, mistake to call Livingstone a serious mayor. It is he, not Boris Johnson, who is the real joke.
Reader views (24)
Gilligan's not my favourite, but he demonstrates and reflects the generally negative feeling for Livingstone.
Broadly, Livingstone's slightly condescending manner is irksome. His "I know best" attitude to consultation he commissioned which doesn't return the results he wants, is evidence of a personal crusade which seems to have nothing to do with what London needs or wants, but with what Ken wants.
As his second term comes to a close, it's clear that the Collective of London and Ken have two very different agendas.
Two terms is enough for any London Mayor and Ken's time is up.
- Richard, London, England
I'll vote for the major who brings a monorail into this great city.
- Lyle Lanley, London
London needs anyone but Ken, he is fighting a class war that harks back to the 1980s. Public transport in London is wasteful, expensive and unreliable. Ken wastes our money and treats decent hard working people with contempt while he lavishes funds on his Politically correct madcap schemes and cronies, basically poking two fingers up to the decent Londoner. Ken has had two terms now and it's time for him to go, he is a spent force. There should be a two term limit on such office as the London mayor.
- Dave Morris, Sidcup, Kent
How about providing some even-handed reporting of the London election? Andrew Gilligan's onesided attacks on the Mayor make a mockery of the role of the press in a democracy.
- Ken, London
Is it just me, or does anyone else think Ken's office building on the Southbank looks like a pile of loose change?
- Broome, Plumstead, London.
Well said Andrew Gilligan: Ken, soon to be ex-Mayor of anywhere but London.
- Watervole, Twickenham
One is a joker, the other is a clown. Both are daft enough to support an amnesty on illegal immigrants.
- John, London
To Mark of London - ref the supposed contributions from Ken's 're-election team'. I suggest you do a survey of comments to this website. You will see a massively disproportionate number of pro Johnson / anti-ken contributions, way out of kilter with opinion poll findings. And with reference to the Boris election team, do a similar survey of column inches written by journalists of the only major London daily and you will see an even bigger proportion of pro Boris inches, massively skewed by Mr Gilligan, who will have something along the lines of: pro-Ken - 0%; pro-Boris - 100%.
Whilst Ken is not someone I would want to invite around to tea politicians should not be elected on that basis, and as a politician he is someone I have admired since he gained the leadership of the GLC, and for those of us for whom the possible election of Johnson as London Mayor is completely beyond belief, I see it almost as a duty to try to help put some semblance of fairness on these web pages, albeit that fairness is a concept probably beyond Mr Gilligan and many others to be found here.
- Brian Capaloff, Falkirk, Scotland (Formerly London)
Ken Leavingsoon is the most vile, repulsive crook in politics today.
You lot who are singing his praises are in denial,either that or you're on benefits so don't personally have to fund the back-handers he distributes.
A chimpanzee would do a better job of running London than this abomination for a man.
- R Jones, Bath England
...and that was another politicial party broadcast for Tim Nice But Dim.
- Jj, Hammersmith
Carry on Andrew this creep Livingstone should be booted out - for keeps - he's just a parasite.
- David, Crawley UK
Plenty of greenwash from Brian C about 'c-charge benefits'. Even Transport for London admit that cars have become a lot cleaner in recent years.
Can someone also please pass it on that hydrogen buses produce water vapour - that is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than the relatively harmless CO2 - and that both the Mayor and PM have by penalising CO2 pushed drivers towards diesel engines that give out particulate pollution. If you want smog, get it inside Paddington Station, which is an eco-disaster...
- Brian D, London
Who's the biggest nasty fellow? My mate who gave me a job, or my enemy?
- Adam B, London
Gilligan is so right on Livingstone and his policies and agenda. Livingstone is in thrall it seems to his own achievements, and he defends them all it seems without any reasonable argument, and often with spurious and worse means, defending the indefensible and denying and gain -saying the truth
Britain's global embassies and consulates and trade missions are on the ground around the world, and are the conduit for promoting London too. What audacity and waste of public funds for Livingstone to set up competing offices and expensive promotions. What is the GLA doing failing to have global salesmanship channelled though diplomatic trade channels- Zilch it appears.
All this waste and time should be being spent on the things the Mayor and his staff are responsible for, and lobbying for improvements for London, Londoners, and commuters,visitors and tourists in ways that help London flourish
His public transport and Congestion policies and actions are the antithesis of what is needed.
Its time for him to be removed from office for the problems and loss of business he has caused, instead of allowing him to crow from the rooftops, with our money ,of all his wonderful '(delusional)' achievements
Its interesting that the New York State Assembly has ditched their Mayor's misguided attempt to introduce an $8 congestion charge scheme - that Livingstone was boasting about 'selling' to him.
Its the economy that matters and should be at the centre of all plans for London.
- Jim Abbotson, London, Britain
Glad to see that members of Ken's re-election team have found time to contribute to this website...
- Mark, London
According to some people who have left comments, the Evening Standard is running its own 'Back Boris' campaign.
If this was true, the Standard wouldn't be making such a big deal out of a few trivial comments by Boris about smoking (Boris never said he would do anything about the ban if elected, he just stated his opinion on the issue) and 'out-ethnic-ing' somebody (just a joke).
- Robert Cunningham, Harrow, London, UK
In addition to the health benefits of the C Charge, perhaps it also needs to be mentioned that Kings College is reconsidering their findings having based their initial conclusions on wrong assumptions. The head of the research group states:
"we now understand that the results contained in our draft reports in relation to traffic pollutants and carbon dioxide need to be refined. This problem arose due to ambiguity in the assumptions used." He added that a revised report showing that carbon dioxide emission figures would be broadly in line with the TfL figures would be released shortly.
- Brian Capaloff, Falkirk, Scotland (Formerly London)
On the day that Boris makes 3 gaffes, about Tobacco, Buses and Ethnicity, the best you come up with is this?
Give it a rest!
- Liam, London
if the GLA is just a 'glorified local council' why is this newspaper spending so much effort running their own 'back boris' campaign?? gilligan seems like a sulky school boy that still hasnt got over his shoddy efforts that led to his sacking from the bbc. At least the public appear to be catching on to the fact that the std/metro/lite efforts are not newspapers but personal campaign leaflets...so keep up the '10 articles a day' attack on the incumbant...you may save him yet!!
- Toby Hall, London, UK
He's not just a joke; he's a fake. No-one courting gay bashing suicide bombing members of the Muslim community can possibly be said to be serious about London, Londoners, Muslims or homosexuals. He deserves to be driven out of office for one of the greatest loss of authenticity since records began. He has absolutely no interest in any of us until you voter; then he'll turn up for the opening of an envelope.
Vote Ken out while you have the chance.
- Robin, London
To say that "Whoever we elect on 1 May will make no difference to London's world status or economy, or to the contents of our pockets, and it is wrong to pretend otherwise" is highly disingenuous to say the least. London's status as a world city is highly dependent on the status, competency and vision of the Mayor. Ken has done a decent job on this front, in terms of attracting international investment and the Olympics (a sign of truly global standing) to the City. He's also done some gesture politics with Hugo Chavez, Castro etc. which is annoying - but he's delivered on the big picture.
Andrew, in your relentless crusade against Ken I think your above statement is actually a strong admission of Boris' weakness. You are saying -"don't worry about electing Boris to spite New Labour/Old Labour/The PC Brigade/The Mullahs" etc. as it doesn't matter anyway". But it does matter, and it'll matter increasingly, as the Mayor has huge impact on crime, transport and community relations. If you were really confident about Boris you say that he was the more competent man to deliver on these issues. But you probably know that Boris can't actually hack the detail - just like your colleague Paul Waugh also does. (Boris Bus Brainache article).
- George, Swiss Cottage
"TfL is also spending a million pounds a bus on new hydrogen buses to end C02 emissions from the tailpipe. Sadly, the hydrogen fuel for the buses is produced using massive quantities of electricity - which in Britain is largely generated by, ahem, burning coal. The carbon footprint of the new buses may thus actually be greater than that of a conventional diesel bus. "
You get economies of scale in power generation, power stations are hugely more efficient at turning fuel into useful energy than an internal combustion engine, so I suspect that the overall carbon footprint would be less.
Far more importantly though, power stations can be remotely sited, producing their pollution a long way from population centres, rather than having buses pumping out pollution into the middle of 7.2 million people trying to breath!
even if they don't especially help the environment, they will certainly help Londoners get cleaner air!
- Chris, London, UK
The only "chiselling little crook" is Livingstone"" The sooner he is booted out, the better.
- John Bush, London, UK
You could have knocked me down with a feather when I came across this article. An anti- Ken diatribe from Mr Gilligan? Never! Anyone would think you saw yourself as a one-man propagandist's for Mr Johnson! Oh, clearly you do!
No doubt you have in your locker columns ready to print on the farce Mr Johnson has made with regard to Routemaster funding and on concerning telephone conversations Mr Johnson has had in the past with regard to Old Etonian buddies who have a propensity to threaten violence with others in your profession. Sorry, did I use the term 'profession' there? To do so would imply that you are a professional.
- Brian Capaloff, Falkirk, Scotland (Formerly London)
