I'd give Boris a job, says Ken

[Morris Onions]

Ken Livingstone yesterday offered to give his Tory rival a job and train him as a future mayoral candidate, in an extraordinary last-minute bid for Tory votes.

After weeks of dismissing Boris Johnson as a lightweight celebrity, Livingstone conceded he would try to employ his opponent if he were re-elected and even hinted that he could put Johnson in pole position for the 2012 elections.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Observer, the embattled mayor also called on the government to dump plans to detain terror suspects without trial for up to 42 days, warning that it 'would not save a single Londoner's life' and would jeopardise Muslim co-operation with the security services.

Asked what he regretted after eight years running the capital, Livingstone said he wished he had brought his defeated rivals into the fold after the 2004 elections: 'Certainly if I get elected this time, I will phone people up and say "I want you to come in and do this (job) for the benefit of London". If Boris doesn't win, I am not certain Cameron is ever going to put him in one of the great offices of state, so I suspect he will be back for another go. He would be a better mayor .

'I think Boris is a person of huge potential, but he's never been involved in detailed administration of anything. I would genuinely want Boris to come in, take a job and get some experience.'

The hint that Johnson could bide his time until 2012 may reflect Labour calculations that Livingstone needs Tory votes to win.

....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/27/livingstone.boris

[non sociopath skin]

1. Not one of Ken's smarter statements, I would think!!!

With the world to choose from, why offer even a janitor's job to this lazy, incompetent, intolerant booby?

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

2. Because he thinks he's going to lose and he's clutching at straws, also...

it's quite revealing about Kens real motivations and loyalty, to indicate that, if re-elected, he'd be happy to train up a lazy, incompetent, intolerant Tory for the 2012 election shows how much he's loyal to Labour and it's principles (or what passes for them these days) and how much he's loyal to himself.

Mind you, perhaps we shouldn't put too much store on what Ken says before elections. Here's a quote from his 1998 “Manifesto for a Mayor and London Assembly”,

So much of the American experience of directly elected mayors shows it gets progressively more difficult to defeat a well-dug-in incumbent who has been able to establish extensive systems of patronage.

As recent experience in Paris also shows, corruption tends to flourish the longer an incumbent is able to hold onto power. In a city that changes as rapidly as London it is hard to believe that a mayor who has served two terms will have the freshness of approach that is required to stay abreast of such a dynamic city.

I therefore recommend that no mayor should serve more than two terms. If I am lucky enough to be elected as London’s first mayor and bearing in mind that I have already served 5 years as leader of the GLC, I would not seek to serve more than one term.

[non sociopath skin]

3. So you're still rooting for the right-of-centre moderate eh, MO?

BTW You wouldn't have picked that info up from a site that you couldn't imagine anyone posting on, would you .... ???

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

7. Well....

Spar... er... Skin... I can't imagine what you mean!

[non sociopath skin]

11. Why the confusion, MO?

I AM THE SKIN

("No, I am the Skin" ... "No, I am the Skin" .... "No, I am the Skin" .... "No, I am the Skin" ...)

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:evilgrin:

[Morris Onions]

12. lol

[non sociopath skin]

13. Nice dimple.

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

4. Well, what is the alternative? Paddick has no chance, and Boris is, well, he's Boris - and a Tory!

[non sociopath skin]

5. But Morris suggested that we "progressives" should prefer a Boris victory, LB...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x23930

Of course, there's them that ain't so sure ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/yasmin-alibhai-brown/yasmin-alibhaibrown-londoners-would-be-mad-to-vote-for-boris-812669.html

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

6. I suggested no such thing Mr Skin...

I merely posted a link to a video which I found interesting.

[non sociopath skin]

9. Without a comment.

That spreaks volumes.:evilgrin:

The Skin

[Morris Onions]

8. As it happens, I don;t get a vote, as I live just over the border but...

if I did, I probably wouldn't bother.

They're all 3rd rate as far as I can see.

[non sociopath skin]

10. In these troubled times, not over-populated by gifted and far-sighted politicians ...

.... I would not describe Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick or Sian Berry as "third rate" (though I might well so describe Boris Johnson).

As for advocating non-voting, "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing,"

The Skin