Where are the decent policy announcements from Ken Livingstone ? Instead of anything that actually makes life better for the majority of Londoners, without wasting our money, all we seem to get from hm is a weekly "foot in mouth" utterance, where he manages to insult someone or other, for no good reason, making himself look ridiculous, and besmirching the international reputation of London.
Livingstone under fire for likening US ambassador to crookHugh Muir
Tuesday March 28, 2006
The GuardianKen Livingstone's colourful vocabulary landed him in more hot water yesterday when he likened the US ambassador in London to a "chiselling little crook".
The mayor of London criticised Robert Tuttle while bemoaning the US embassy's insistence that its diplomatic staff should not pay the congestion charge because they view it as a tax. Embassies are exempt from all local tax under the 1961 Vienna convention.
The London Congestion Charge is obviously a tax.
Mr Livingstone told ITV's London Today: "It would actually be quite nice if the American ambassador in Britain could pay the charge that everybody else is paying and not actually try and skive out of it like some chiselling little crook."
How do personal insults, on television, against the US Ambassador, help to make London a better place to live ?
He blamed Mr Tuttle for the impasse. "Since this new ambassador took over in July they have not paid," he said. "When British troops are putting their lives on the line for American foreign policy, it would be quite nice if they paid the congestion charge."
Who believes that Ken Livingstone genuinely supports our troops in Iraq or Afghanistan etc ?
Is he willing to to exempt them from paying the London Congestion Charge tax when they get home ?
Will he be using his vast entertainment budget to fete and celbrate British war veterans ?
It is reported that US embassy staff are ignoring about 300 penalties. Another 55 embassies are also refusing to pay.
Is Ken Livingstone going to personally insult all 55 Ambassadors and their countries ?
Rick Roberts, a US embassy spokesman, said the embassy had decided not to pay the charge for official vehicles on July 1, before Mr Tuttle arrived in Britain, and that he had not been involved in the decision. He declined to discuss the mayor's comments: "The mayor has a tendency to hyperbole. I'm not going to dignify that."
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