Ken Livingstone is a Londoner born and bred, and has a record of speaking up for Londoners throughout his time in politics. He was elected Mayor of London in 2000, the first person to hold this office and was re-elected in 2004. In May 2008 he narrowly lost out to Boris Johnson.

Ken has established a reputation for doing what is right for London, from leading the way in challenging discrimination at the Greater London Council, to the groundbreaking introduction of the congestion charge to his policies for dealing with climate change today.

He was born in Lambeth in 1945 and educated at Tulse

Hill Comprehensive School. After working as a technician at the Chester Beatty Cancer Research Institute in London, he entered Phillipa Fawcett Teacher Training College.

He has been a Labour councillor in Lambeth and in Camden. He became a Labour member of the Greater London Council in 1973 and became its leader in 1981, a position he held until March 1986 when Margaret Thatcher abolished the GLC, ending an era in London government. The GLC's campaign against abolition was one of the most popular political campaigns in London's history. London-wide government was only restored in 2000.

From 1987 to June 2001, Ken was the Labour Member of Parliament for Brent East. He was elected to the position of Mayor of London in 2000 as an Independent. In 2004 he won re-election to a second term as Mayor as the Labour candidate.

He has written two books, If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It (1987) and Livingstone's Labour (1989). Ken is an outstanding speaker and without question one of the highest profile politicians in the country. He speaks candidly about his extraordinary life and political career.