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Ken staff worked on campaign in office time
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter01.02.08
Ken Livingstone has come under further attack after it emerged senior officials paid out of public money were ordered to work on his 2004 re-election campaign during office hours.
Leaked documents reveal how the Mayor's former senior adviser on Asian affairs, Atma Singh, was instructed to write articles supporting Mr Livingstone in breach of rules forbidding the use of taxpayers' money.
The evidence appears to directly contradict a claim by the Mayor that public officials did not work on his 2004 campaign. Mr Livingstone had insisted his officials were allowed to engage in political activity "as long as they obey the law, which is that they can't publicly campaign, which they can't make a speech for me or write an article for me". But an email leaked to today's Times, appears to show that Mr Singh was asked by the campaign team to write two articles praising the Mayor, for the Asian Post and the East Muslim News.
The email, sent at 9.30am from thecampaign office of Ken4London on 27 May 2004, requested the articles be submitted by noon. Asked what proportion of his time he spent on official duties, Mr Singh said "about 10 per cent on the job and 90 per cent on the election campaign, so the election was the main thing for the Mayor's advisers."
The evidence will be handed to the Electoral Commission as part of a complaint against the Mayor. His reign at City Hall has come under scrutiny after investigat ions in the Evening Standard.
