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How London got Mayor Ken (and vice versa)

How London got Mayor Ken (and vice versa) Viewpoint How London got Mayor Ken (and vice versa) ]OHNHALL Thank you, Mayor Ken, for maintaining the predictive power of Hall's Law. This law (which has doubtless been separately formulated by many observers of London politics) states that: 'An election for Greater London will always deliver a political majority opposed to the nq,tional government of the day'.l In truth it was a close contest. As recently as February 2000, Kenneth Robert Livingstone, Independent (as his name and party appeared on the mayoral ballot paper and was read out on 5 May 2000 by the returning officer for Greater London announcing him as mayoral victor) had been a member of the Labour Party. If he had won the contorted ballot of Greater London party members, MPs and MEPs, party assembly candidates and trades unions (ie the Greater London electoral college), then he would in all likelihood have demolished Hall's Law. Standing in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster - the Greater London election count headquarters - on the morning of his success, Ken began his acceptance speech with the obvious words: 'As I was saying before I was interrupted', a reference to the abolition of the Greater London http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The London Journal: A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and Present Taylor & Francis

How London got Mayor Ken (and vice versa)

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References (17)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2000 Maney Publishing
ISSN
1749-6322
eISSN
0305-8034
DOI
10.1179/ldn.2000.25.1.84
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Viewpoint How London got Mayor Ken (and vice versa) ]OHNHALL Thank you, Mayor Ken, for maintaining the predictive power of Hall's Law. This law (which has doubtless been separately formulated by many observers of London politics) states that: 'An election for Greater London will always deliver a political majority opposed to the nq,tional government of the day'.l In truth it was a close contest. As recently as February 2000, Kenneth Robert Livingstone, Independent (as his name and party appeared on the mayoral ballot paper and was read out on 5 May 2000 by the returning officer for Greater London announcing him as mayoral victor) had been a member of the Labour Party. If he had won the contorted ballot of Greater London party members, MPs and MEPs, party assembly candidates and trades unions (ie the Greater London electoral college), then he would in all likelihood have demolished Hall's Law. Standing in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster - the Greater London election count headquarters - on the morning of his success, Ken began his acceptance speech with the obvious words: 'As I was saying before I was interrupted', a reference to the abolition of the Greater London

Journal

The London Journal: A Review of Metropolitan Society Past and PresentTaylor & Francis

Published: May 1, 2000

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