For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, there’s a revealing interview with Ken Livingstone in the latest issue of Total Politics magazine. Here’s an extract:
Asked why people should vote for him, Ken jokes: “It’s a simple choice between good and evil – I don’t think it’s been so clear since the great struggle between Churchill and Hitler… The people that don’t vote for me will be weighed in the balance, come Judgement Day. The Archangel Gabriel will say, ‘ You didn’t vote for Ken Livingstone in 2012. Oh dear, burn forever. Your skin flayed for all eternity.’”
Is that merely in very poor taste? Or has the old Labour warhorse gone a bit doolally? Red Ken has always seemed a little unhinged, but I’ve noticed that he’s been getting more and more erratic in the past few months.
First, there was his ill-advised attempt to smear Boris over his links with News International, a tactic he employs again in the Total Politics interview, branding his Mayoral opponent “the News International candidate”. Bit dicey that one considering that Ken employed Freud Communications during his tenure as Mayor and has published 26 articles in newspapers owned by News International since the hacking scandal broke in 2009.
Then there was his knee-jerk response to the riots, blaming the social disorder on “the cuts”. For a veteran politician, that was breathtakingly stupid, revealing just how out of touch he is with ordinary Londoners.
And now comes this completely nutty interview in Total Politics.
As someone who’s known Boris for more than 25 years, I’ve always been struck by how lucky he is. Not only did he win the genetic lottery, being blessed with a first-class brain, but at Eton, Oxford and beyond all the glittering prizes just seemed to fall into his lap. However, the greatest stroke of good fortune ever to befall him is that Ken Livingstone was selected as the Labour candidate to stand against him next year. With Ken – “Bonkers” – Livingstone as his opponent, I don’t see how Boris can lose.
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