The Hindu : Mayor of London hit by scandal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 23, 2002

International

International

Mayor of London hit by scandal

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 22. Ken Livingstone is no ordinary Londoner. He is the Mayor of London and, as The Times reminded him on Saturday, he is there to "create buildings, not scandals.''

But a scandal is what has been haunting him all of this week following allegations that he had been involved in a late-night "drunken brawl'' during which he roughed up his pregnant partner, and caused a journalist to plunge into a basement.

Police have set up an inquiry, the London Assembly has summoned him to explain himself, and suddenly the man whom Londoners fondly called "People's Ken'' is in deep trouble with his critics already starting to put bets on his political future.

Mr. Livingstone has dismissed the allegations as "nonsense'', but if the Assembly is not convinced, when it meets on Wednesday to hear him, it can refer the case to the Standards Board of England which could suspend him for a year or even slam a five-year ban on him if it finds that his conduct has brought the local Government into "disrepute''. While there are conflicting versions of what exactly happened on that fateful night, the row is not denied even by Mr. Livingstone. What he contests is the charge that he behaved improperly or was involved in a "cover-up. "I only had three glasses of wine — three glasses of wine over seven hours,'' he told the BBC denying that he was drunk that evening. And, did he try to cover it up? "If this is a cover-up, it's the worst there has ever been. If I ever wanted to do a cover-up I hope I will do a lot better than this,'' he said.

The incident took place a couple of weeks ago at a birthday party at the house of Emma Beal's sister.

The case arose out of the testimony of Robin Hedges, an arts editor of the London Evening Standard who fell 15 ft into a basement after he was allegedly pushed by Mr. Livingstone following a scuffle. He was taken to hospital and given a brainscan.

Mr. Hedges, who had first said it had been an accident, changed his version later to say that the Mayor "lunged'' at him causing the fall. According to him, the trouble began when Mr. Livingstone objected to Ms Beal's smoking and there was a scuffle after which he was locked out of the flat.

``Ken wanted to get back into the party. He was uncontrollable and went up to the door and was hammering on it....We were grabbing on to his arms and trying to hold him. The last memory I have is of Ken's arm lunging towards me. After that my next recollection was when I came to in the ambulance briefly,'' Mr. Hedges said.

He claimed that his earlier statement describing his fall as an accident was made under coercion from the Mayor's office.

The controversy could not have come at a worse time for Mr. Livingstone who is desperately trying to seek a second term, and this time as a Labour Party candidate.

He was removed from the party for five years when he contested the last mayoral election defying the official candidate.

The bad publicity, it is feared, is likely to make his readmission into the party-fold difficult, and diminish his prospects in the 2004 elections.

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