At the World Economic Forum, 26 January 2008

Kenneth Robert Livingstone, (born 17 June 1945) is a British politician. He has twice held the leading political role in London local government: firstly as leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986 by the government of Margaret Thatcher, and secondly as the first Mayor of London, a post he held from its creation in 2000 until 2008. He also served as Member of Parliament for Brent East between 1987 and 2000 as a Labour Party member, he was expelled from the party in 2000 and stood down to concentrate on his mayoral obligations in 2001.

He was initially elected as Mayor of London as an Independent candidate after the Labour Party chose not to nominate him as their candidate in the first mayoral election. In January 2004, he was re-admitted to the Labour Party. He stood as the official Labour Party candidate for Mayor in the June 2004 election, which he won with a total of 828,380 first- and second-preference votes. On 1 May 2008, Livingstone was defeated in his third election bid by Conservative candidate Boris Johnson and his term as Mayor of London ended on 4 May 2008.