It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
11:19 am - June 10th 2010
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While the hoo ha continues about whether someone left of the center gets to lose the leadership to the Miliband franchise there is a far more important selection taking place inside of Labour.
It’s going to be a Oona King vs Ken Livingstone stand-off with the winner to be decided at the Labour caber tossing contest late September.
I’m interested not just because I’m a nosy buggar, but also because a) I live in London and so I’m curious as to who hopes to rule over me and b) we get a second preference in the Mayorals which, last time round, the Green Party officially recommended using for the Labour candidate.
If Labour select Ken I’m confident we’ll repeat that happy experience, but if they select some bomb loving politician-for-the-sake-of-it then I doubt London Greens would be shy about publicly critiquing the lack of progressive credentials in Labour candidate and we may well have a less supportive stance.
The two hopefuls are like chalk and cheese in many ways. King spent her time in Parliament as an ultra-loyal speak your policy machine while Livingstone has been a thorn in Labour’s side for decades.
King has always been eminently ignorable and defeatable while Livingstone is a formidable customer, who walks the walk and is able to defeat real opponents both internal and external. He took on all comers, including Labour’s Frank Dobson, to win the Mayoralty in the first place. His medal cabinet is unique in British politics, King on the other hand is “fresh” and essentially untested.
Oona says of her candidacy
We can’t kid ourselves that we can beat Boris Johnson by using the same rhetoric or policy platform that failed last time. We need fresh new ideas. We need an honest conversation with London based on our values and aspirations – that’s what this site and my candidacy is about.
It’s nice to hear she’s going to single-handedly overturn Labour’s entire policy platform, but her website gives little indication of in what way she intends to this. Does she mean she’s going to reverse policy on transport and the congestion charge? Will she issue all Brazilians with bullet proof vests on the tube? What?
It’s not that the Greens agree with Ken all the time, but he’s a serious politician who we can work with on friendly terms and with whom we genuinely do share a great deal of political ground. The same cannot be said for King whose track record of coalition building does not extend beyond the Iraq invasion.
It’s good that there’s a choice and quite rightly I don’t get a vote in Labour’s selection process, but I will get a say in whether the Greens recommend a second preference for Labour in 2012 and that rests entirely on who they pick as their candidate.
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Jim Jepps is a socialist in the Green Party and formerly blogged at the Daily (Maybe). He currently writes on London politics, community and the environment at Big Smoke.
· Other posts by Jim Jepps
Story Filed Under: Blog ,London Mayor
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Reader comments
“Bomb-loving”?
Does Ken’s love-in with the IRA and Islamic extremists count in that regard?!
If Labour chooses a “state-execution loving” candidate then they’re still not getting my vote.
Livingstone’s unflinching support for Met Police Sir Ian Blair over the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes and his praise for the commander in charge of the botched operation, Cressida Dick, was a disgrace.
Oona King is not fresh, new or untested.
I used to be her constituent. I’d rather vote for Boris than vote for that warmongering Bliar cheerleader – and the chances of me voting for Boris are ZERO.
I’m sure I’m not alone.
Chose Oona, get Boris. It’s as simple as that.
Not sure either is a good choice – Ken Livingstone has a lot of baggage, which would be dragged up, and the suburbs will come out to vote against him unless the government really messes up. Even then, as with Mr Livingstone, Mr Johnston is clearly his own man, so may minimise the damage.
Perhaps trying something different than the party hack and the one recogniseable rebel might have been an idea?
Love fest with Chavez – yeah thats what we need in London.
Ken, in my view, just has far too much baggage to be a successful candidate again. How long before he makes another stupid comment or gets embroiled in another controversy?
I agree that Oona still has a case to make but at the moment I would still favour her over Ken.
As for the Greens, I don’t think Labour should select its candidate on who will be acceptable to the Greens. We should select on the basis of who we think will be the best Labour Mayor and who can beat Boris.
If Greens refuse to back Oona because of their false perceptions of her then they are cutting off their nose to spite their face. The only result will be another four years of Boris which will not be good for London.
Plus there is the odd indication that Mr Johnson might actually be eating into normally Labour-monopolised areas.
What is Mr Livingstone offering new in response? Going back to the tried and tested is generally the wrong thing to do, especially when it hardly worked perfectly in the first place.
Ken should stay in retirement. Boris Johnson is the best man for the Job!
We need an honest conversation with London based on our values and aspirations – that’s what this site and my candidacy is about.
souns suspiciously like most of the Labour leader candidates, none of whom offer anything new. Oona is trying to become a sort of British Obama but it won’t wash – in terms of ideas she has absolutely nothing, she’s proven to be a poor campaigner against dirty tricks, and she’s just so damn uninspiring. That’s before we get to her ultra-loyal Blairite voting record.
Ken, though, isn’t the perfect choice either. He’ll have to rely on a lower turnout of Boris voters, but that’s not inconceivable, given just how little Bo-Jo has done. And that’s assuming bo-Jo evn wants the job. Not too many inspiring tories milling around, out of work…
A liberal blog site that may censor sarcasm, spare me! It is one of the finest aspects of the English language and the author of the blog does not seem averse to using it. What’s good for the goose…
Reactions: Twitter, blogs
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Liberal Conspiracy
It's now down to Ken to win London for Labour http://bit.ly/cMCuzV
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Kasch Wilder
RT @BenCooper86: “@libcon: It's now down to Ken to win London for Labour http://bit.ly/cMCuzV” < Oona King "bomb loving", what nonsense!
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Jenni Jackson
RT @libcon It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour http://bit.ly/c60Ouz
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Stephen Bush
Good article at @libcon that raises the interesting point that the London mayoral candidate has to build a coalition http://bit.ly/cMCuzV
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Naadir Jeewa
Reading: It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour: While the hoo ha continues about whether someone left of t… http://bit.ly/9kg9ET
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Ben Cooper
“@libcon: It's now down to Ken to win London for Labour http://bit.ly/cMCuzV” < Oona King "bomb loving", what nonsense!
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Phil BC
Another reason why Ken should be Labour's London mayoral candidate http://bit.ly/cMCuzV
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