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Category: Ken

Ken suspended from LAB for a year over Hitler comments – not expelled

Ken suspended from LAB for a year over Hitler comments – not expelled

Typical of Labour to shy away from a decision Ken Livingstone escapes expulsion from Labour over his Hitler remarks. Party disciplinary panel suspends his membership for one year. — David Wooding (@DavidWooding) April 4, 2017 Labour's commitment to finding the option that irritates everyone is second-to-none. — Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) April 4, 2017 Ken Livingstone: "I apologise for the offence caused by those Labour MPs who lied and said I said Hitler was a Zionist." — Kevin Schofield (@KevinASchofield) April…

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Livingstone: symptom of a deeper problem

Livingstone: symptom of a deeper problem

Confronting the ex-mayor means confronting what it means to be Labour You know you have a PR problem when your party’s second most successful politician this century* is publicly debating at what point in the 1930s Hitler lost the plot. Labour’s problem runs a great deal deeper than bad publicity though. To be clear, Labour is unlikely to be the only party with members, activists or elected representatives who’ve said or written something stupid or worse but it is likely…

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Donald Brind says that if Ken is expelled it will be a Labour gain

Donald Brind says that if Ken is expelled it will be a Labour gain

Those who care about the Palestinians have to be careful how they attack Israel Let me say at the start that I deplore the government of Benjamin Netanyahu which I believe uses overwhelming military power to make life misery for people in neighbouring territories. When the occupied people react violently to the oppression the response ordered by Netanyahu is, I’d argue, routinely disproportionate. My rather strangulated prose is to illustrate a point. If you believe in justice for the Palestinians…

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It’s not just LAB that has an anti semitic problem

It’s not just LAB that has an anti semitic problem

Jan 2015 “Jews have too much influence in this country”Agree: UKIP voters 18%; Labour voters 10%; Tory voters 9%.https://t.co/5XSPrK1Q2H — Tim Bale (@ProfTimBale) April 28, 2016 On a day dominated by the extraordinary events within Labour and the suspension of the former Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, Prof Tim Bale has Tweeted about some 2015 polling. As can be seen those sampled were asked whether they thought that “Jews have too much influence on this country”. 18% of Ukip voters…

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If Sadiq wins the London Mayoralty then Ken could return to the Commons as MP for Tooting

If Sadiq wins the London Mayoralty then Ken could return to the Commons as MP for Tooting

He’d be more use to Corbyn there than in the upper house There’s been a lot of talk in recent days about the former LAB Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, being made a peer and perhaps becoming his party’s leader in the Lords. The story I’ve been getting this afternoon is that there’s another plan to enable Ken to return to Westminster. If the betting favourite, Sadiq Khan, does become London Mayor in May’s election then there’ll be a by-election…

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David Herdson on how Londoners used their 2nds prefs

David Herdson on how Londoners used their 2nds prefs

What are the electoral lessons to be learned? The vote for London mayor is unusual in many ways, one of which is that because of the electronic counting system, all second preferences are identified and recorded. Last week, the full second preference breakdown for May’s vote was released, and is well worth analysing. Interestingly, most people who voted for Boris or Ken also cast a second preference despite the almost certain knowledge that their first choice would be in the…

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Could Boris’s successor be another Johnson?

Could Boris’s successor be another Johnson?

Is there any point in betting on the 2016 race? Both PaddyPower and Ladbrokes have now got markets up on the 2015 London mayoral race and there appears to have been a bit of activity with Labour’s Alan Johnson now second favourite with both – 6/1 with the former and 10/1 the latter. The interest in Alan Johnson stems from comments he made about how him running this time had been a possibility and that he might put his cap…

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Ken still in with a shout with YouGov

Ken still in with a shout with YouGov

Could he just squeeze in? The latest YouGov London poll for the Evening Standard is just out and has Boris only 3% ahead on first preferences. That margin is what the US media would call a “statistical dead heat”. Clearly, if YouGov have got this right, this battle is far closer than the other pollsters who’ve been covering it are making out. Before the weekend ComRes had a Boris 1st preference lead of 9% with Survation recording 11.2%. Hopefully they’ll…

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