For those of who have not had the dubious pleasure of knowing who “Red” Ken Livngstone is – he was a former mayor of Greater London (2000 -20008), a Trotskyite, a Muslim appeaser of the worst sort, virulent anti Israel fellow (sort of a George Galloway in a better suit) who through the stupidity of voters (and London’s changing demographics) had the chance to screw up one of the greatest cities on Earth. He was so left wing (think Barack Obama/Nancy Pelosi/Keith Olbermann on steroids) that even Londoners voted him out for Boris Johnson in 2008. His public persona was snarkiness, biting sarcasm, vitriol, and incitement – he had a bit of Joseph Goebbels in him.
Hat tip – Weasel Zippers
by Andrew Gilligan
In an election lost by Mr Livingstone, the Islamic Forum of Europe helped secure massive and unexpected swings towards him in its east London heartland.
In one ward, Spitalfields, his vote share rose from 29.6 per cent in 2004 – an election he won – to 68.4 per cent in 2008, a rise of nearly 39 percentage points.
In every other ward in Tower Hamlets and Newham with a sizeable Muslim population, his vote rose by between 23 and 36 percentage points. His vote in other Muslim and ethnic minority areas of London also rose, but by far smaller amounts.
Mr Livingstone’s economic development body, the London Development Agency, had agreed to pay more than £1.3 million to the East London Mosque, controlled by the IFE, and described by critics as hardline.
Emails leaked to The Sunday Telegraph show that a senior LDA official furiously protested against at least £500,000 of this grant, saying there were “major concerns” about the mosque project and “no case” for giving it the money.
However, the official was overruled and the grant was paid.
[…]
Read the rest here: Islamists got voters out for Livingstone
Tags: Ken Livingstone
