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A warm hand for Ken as Labour targets 'toff' Boris
Paul Waugh, Evening Standard26.09.07
Ken Livingstone and Gordon Brown finally buried the hatchet as Labour launched an all-out onslaught on Boris Johnson's "toff" image.
The pair have had frosty relations for years, but today Mr Brown clasped the Mayor's hand and pulled him to his feet to bask in applause after he outlined a string of moves to win re-election to City Hall next May.
The Mayor announced he wanted an 80 per cent carbon emissions cut for London by 2050 and attacked the City of London for failing to stump up funding for Crossrail.
Mr Brown and Mr Livingstone have been at odds since early in Labour's first term when Mr Livingstone suggested Mr Brown should not be Chancellor. Mr Brown's PPP for the Tube was another huge source of conflict and he was a key opponent of moves to bring Mr Livingstone back into the Labour party.
But today the pair posed for the cameras in a highly symbolic show of mutual support as each hoped the other would help to boost polls in the general and Mayoral elections.
Mr Livingstone kicked off a string of attacks on his likely Tory rival, declaring his pleasure in holding "the first annual Boris Johnson memorial lecture". He cited Mr Johnson's criticism of his affordable housing targets as proof that he was a "blond backward element" in the Tory party.
Labour Treasurer Jack Dromey also attacked the Henley MP, calling him "a tufty toff from Eton" who was as "as genuine as a nine bob note".
