Ken Livingstone

Ken Livingstone joined the Labour Party in 1969 and became secretary of the Norwood Young Socialists. He was elected to Lambeth Council in 1971 and to the Greater London Council in 1973. In 1985 he was elected to Parliament as Labour member for Brent East and in the 1987 general election he retained the constituency for Labour. In November 1999 that he was defeated in a contest to select the Labour party's candidate in the election of the newly-created post of Mayor of London by Frank Dobson, the candidate favoured by Tony Blair. He responded by leaving the Labour party and standing as an independent, and in May 2O00 he was elected Mayor of London.