Whatever Happenned To Yesterday's Man

by john of gwent
It's a funny thing, the oxygen of publicity.

One minute you're up there courting all the camera flash action you can get, the next you're behaving like those who believe the instrument is the work of the devil, and to have your likeness captured by one is to have your soul - and perhaps your penis too - stolen away by the demon in the box.

Motivated by a request from GA, I went looking for post-election images of the former mayor of london. And there aren't any. He seems to have become yesterday's man already.

All I can find is an article without any pictures at all in the Independent.

Is it perhaps justice, or revenge at last, for those who consider Ken "The Most Odious Man In Britain". I don't know, but a google search for "Ken Livingstone" five minutes ago brought up this link to his begging bowl in the number 1 slot, and the article I mention above from The Independent in second place. It would have been in first place, butRed Ken and his pals were so desperate for support they PAID google to advertise ken's re-election site - and its his begging bowl - as a 'google sponsored link'

But don't feel sorry for Red Ken. He is about to become another champagne socialist. As the Independent puts it, "Ken Livingstone will take his children to school tomorrow and begin life outside politics for the first time in nearly 40 years. A lucrative career in after-dinner speaking beckons, where he can trade on his celebrity and utilise his wry wit. He also looks set to begin work on his memoirs"

It goes on "Aides insist he did not contemplate his future during his unsuccessful battle to see off the challenge from Boris Johnson. But, as polling day loomed, the mayor let slip that if he was defeated, he would try to emulate his Tory rival by becoming a commentator and writer".

The article quotes him as saying 'If I lost there would be a vacancy on the after-dinner speaking circuit so we would really just be swapping jobs'

The article continues with some words of advice and caution for the "would-be wordsmith", and coming from one who already butters his bread through popular political wordcraft, Livingstone would do well to heed them as sage advice. For it seems "The fee he receives would depend on his willingness to be candid about his long-running feud with Gordon Brown, which was hastily papered over during the mayoral campaign. He would also have to write speedily, as its value would plummet if Labour was no longer in office when it was published".

Get a move on, Ken. Diddy David's army is on the march.

But if you wanted a photo-opportunity of Ken leaving by the back door, you missed your chance. "Mr Livingstone paid a final visit to City Hall over the bank holiday weekend to clear his office and take home his personal mementoes."

As to Red Ken's financial position, it is claimed that "despite drawing a pension from his time as an MP for the past thirteen years, he cannot afford to retire". Well, that gives him something in common with me and The Green Arrow. We can't afford to retire either. But in our cases it is because of New Liebour's economic and immigration policy, and the heist Gordon Brown pulled off by taxing the dividends paid into our pension funds by the shares those funds bought. Not because we have to meet Child Support Agency demands to maintain the upkeep of five children and the three mothers that gave birth to them. (Unless GA you wish to 'fess up' to having more women in foreign ports from your time in the Navy ?)

But I leave you with this final piece of journalistic irony. Alongside that #2 search result for the Independent there was a small picture insert. Clicking on it took me to the english mouthpiece of the descendents of Chairman MaoCCTV-9. Here you will find a stirring story of Gordon Brown's rout, and a picture of Boris Johnson on his way to swear his oath of office as Mayor.

But also you may find evidence of the finest act of squirreling away a personal pot of gold since Idi Amin showed Robert Mugabe how it's done. Fopr in that article it is claimed Boris now controls a budget of eleven thousand million pounds.

Which is strange. Because the The Greater London Authority published the 2008/2009 budget for all to see in black and white (well, in red and white actually) and it is for a mere THREE POINT ONE thousand million pounds.

What's this other Eight BILLION then ? Has The Evening Standard wildly underestimated Lee Jasper's success at squrrelling away a retirement fund for himself, his mistresses and his pal Ken's brood ?

We will have to wait and see.

Tags: Ken Livingstone