World statesman ‘Red Ken’ Livingstone, the creepy authoritarian, who is, unfortunately, London’s mayor, threw a party to highlight his opposition to President Bush’s visit to the British capital.
Who paid for it? Blogger Oliver Kamm tried to find out.
“I called back, and asked once more how much the event had cost, now that we had established it had been paid for by the public. It was ‘a few thousand’. The original budget had been £8000, but there had been some ’sponsorship in kind’. I asked how much the commercial rate was for the hire of the room, as that revenue forgone ought to be entered into the calculation for the budget for the event. That was £5000, but the whole expenditure was all ‘a drop in the ocean’.
’So the expenditure of thousands of pounds’ worth of council tax receipts isn’t important.’
’I didn’t say that. You’re misquoting me.’
’So the expenditure of thousands of pounds’ worth of council tax receipts is important?’
’Haven’t you got anything better to do?’
And there we left the matter.”