The Ken Livingstone team have hit back again today in the on going row about who the people were who featured in Livingstone’s election broadcast after allegations, which first appeared in the Guardian diary and then on Labour Uncut, that they were actors rather than real Londoners.
The allegations were flatly denied by the Livingtstone campaign team yesterday, which said those starring in the ad were activists who were paid expenses only and not actors.
But the story will not go away. There is added controversy as Livingstone was seen to be caught off guard and shed tears at the launch of the ad on Wednesday when it is alledged he had already seen it.
It would have been a simple thing to be upfront when the ad was launched. Clarity and honesty in political campaigning is essential. It saves for any awkward questions later, but the Livingstone team have struggled with this concept from the start leading it to be dogged by questions about Livingstone’s tax affairs.
That’s a real shame as Boris Johnson is an over privileged buffoon who does not understand anything about the lives of real Londoners nor does he seem to care very much. He has two jobs to do after all — and the Telegraph one pays nicely.
Here’s the statement put out by the Livingstone team and the video response:
“For four days now Labour’s election broadcast for London Mayor has been making news. It led to an emotional response from Ken himself at our manifesto launch. Our opponents are rattled by how our broadcast is setting the agenda on the things that really matter.
“It’s knocked the underwhelming Tory broadcast for six. So they have attacked it. You may have seen that Labour’s opponents now claim that the people shown in our election broadcast were actors. That’s simply untrue.
“Today we are releasing a video of some of the people in the broadcast. They answer for themselves how they are the real deal. In its own quiet way it says more than a thousand hysterical Tory attacks: real Londoners explaining why they chose to back Labour in this election.”
