Jeremy Corbyn

Supporting Ken

JEREMY CORBYN argues that the Livingstone critics must be countered.

IN LAST Sunday's Observer, regular columnist Catherine Bennett churned out her usual half-page column.
Essentially, it was taken up with wittily written abuse about London Mayor Ken Livingstone. There was no attempt at political debate, no assessment of his terms in office or what his electoral opponents might do, just media razzle-dazzle abuse.
Its role was minor compared to that of the London Evening Standard, which appears to have a whole team working to destroy Livingstone led by Andrew Gilligan.
The Gilligan approach is more seductive - he makes a series of accusations, calls for an inquiry and then complains when his wishes are not granted.
His latest escapade was a double-page spread on the alleged non-publication of passenger satisfaction surveys by Transport for London. This, he claims, is proof that Livingstone is abusing his position and using public money to fund his election campaign.
The drip effect of alleged dishonesty by the mayor is repeated in huge type on billboards all over London each day. The methods would do credit to Citizen Kane.
Meanwhile, Tory candidate Boris Johnson, MP for Henley on Thames - which is connected to London by the river - is given a free ride and endless puffs about his charm, his wit, his ability to listen and how he is potentially London's breath of fresh air. He's presented like some kind of cuddly old-fashioned public schoolboy.
While the election is 12 weeks away, the last few months have seen a concerted campaign by the glitterati of London's media. They've mounted a series of personal attacks on Livingstone and claimed that anything good in London would have happened anyway, while the mayor is merely on an ego trip.
London is almost unique globally for its declining car usage, vast increase in bus travel, maximum usage of the Underground and massive investment in new rail services and lines. This did not happen by accident.
Elected as an independent in 2000, Livingstone promised to introduce the congestion charge. It was very controversial at the time and subject to a sustained media attack. There were many opportunities when he could have backed away and delayed the scheme, set up an inquiry or abandoned it altogether. But he went ahead and it happened. The result was that car travel fell, buses moved faster and air became cleaner. Quite a result.
London escaped the total bus deregulation of the Tories in the 1980s. The pensioners' bus pass was retained through hard campaigning. In 1984, it gave way to the Freedom Pass, which offers unrestricted use of all public transport in the capital.
As well as defending this pass, Livingstone has overseen free travel for children and younger students and, thanks to the Venezuelan oil deal, recipients of income support now get half-price bus travel. Cycling is also becoming rapidly more popular due to pro-cycling schemes.
The government has at times been any-thing but supportive of Livingstone.
In 1999, Tony Blair put enormous effort into addressing mass meetings of Labour members to oppose Livingstone's selection as the Labour candidate.
When Livingstone was elected as an independent, the then chancellor Gordon Brown spent most of the mayor's first term trying to force him into handing huge contracts for London Underground refurbishment to private contractors. He was finally forced to accept the deal by the courts.
It was a sort of expensive poetic justice when Metronet went bust and London Underground had to take over. The workers benefited immediately with the minimum London living wage of £7.20 introduced by the mayor. Sadly, the national wage policies of private-sector operators applies to buses and the new London Overground services.
'The drip effect of alleged dishonesty by the mayor is amplified in huge type on billboards all over London each day.'
More recently, the government has allowed Parliament to grant significant powers to the mayor for housing and further education, areas which can make a huge difference. Too few houses for rent have been constructed in the capital. The housing crisis in London is the worst in the country for those in desperate need. From April, major social investments will be made by the London Housing Board, which is chaired by the mayor.
There are many criticisms of the structure of government in London that was designed by Blair's friends. It creates enormous executive power with limited accountability. New Labour's intention was always to have a business executive-run London as an arm of "UK plc."
The structure means that a Tory mayor would have huge influence and the budget and powers to turn back the clock in London to the hour of Thatcher's abolition of the old Greater London Council in 1986.
The left in London have become accustomed to the "comfort zone" of a mayorality that is anti-war, gives space to protest and debate, is totally opposed to racism and funds radical art and culture.
The election on May 1 will be about the choice of mayor but also the assembly. Irrespective of its limited powers, the use of the list voting system means that the prospect of the British National Party gaining a seat is real and very dangerous. A quarter of London's voters are not UK-born. It is, in a real sense, a world city.
A defeat for Livingstone and the election of a BNP assembly member would change the whole atmosphere and prospects for London.
There are another 12 weeks for the witty glitterati to attack. There are another 12 weeks to seriously campaign for housing and public services and to defeat the fear and despair that the BNP represents.

Economics on the Rocks

ON Monday, Alastair Darling could not quite bring himself to utter the "N" word. He preferred "temporary public ownership" to "nationalisation."
In a revealing comment, he went on to say that taking Northern Rock into public ownership protected public investment better than handing the profits to the private sector while we all bore the risk.
The failure of Northern Rock was rooted in the greed of demutualisation, excessive executive wages, which are being repeated in the public sector, and a business system in which the bank relied on borrowing cheaply from other banks to fund its excessive lending.
Tony Blair lauded its former chief executive and Brown did nothing to prevent other respectable mutual building societies from going down the plc route.
Perhaps 2008 will be the turning point in the government's attitude towards the financial system.
A decade of cheap Chinese goods, low interest rates and rapid US growth has come to an end. Massive federal borrowing and ever-shortening oil supplies have made a big impact.
Tellingly, even new Labour, the architect of the free-market solution, has been forced to use public ownership to prevent a banking collapse.

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North. He can be contacted at corbynj@parliament.uk