Ken Livingstone's dinner guests – oops! I got it wrong.

What is Ken Livingstone up to tomorrow night? According to the Guardian he’s having some guests for dinner. · Banquet hosted by Ken Livingstone, also attended by Duke of York, at Guildhall Also at the table will be King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The odd thing is that it was not so long ago that…

Liam

October 30, 2007

1–2 minutes

Labour Party, Tragi-comic

What is Ken Livingstone up to tomorrow night? According to the Guardian he’s having some guests for dinner.

· Banquet hosted by Ken Livingstone, also attended by Duke of York, at Guildhall

Also at the table will be King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The odd thing is that it was not so long ago that the Daily Telegraph was reporting “Ken embarrasses Blair with ‘hang Saudi royals’ outburst “.

What can it all mean?

It turns out to mean that you shouldn’t take what you read in the Guardian as fact. It also means that Britain’s bourgeois revolution has some unfinished business. I’m not a regular reader of the City of London website. This is what it says:

“On Wednesday 31 October, in the presence of His Royal Highness The Duke of York, the City of London Corporation and the Lord Mayor of the City of London will host a Banquet in honour of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia”.

It doesn’t look like Ken Livingstone will be there. Still readers can extrapolate my pretty obvious anti New Labour jibe.

9 responses to “Ken Livingstone's dinner guests – oops! I got it wrong.”

Louisefeminista

October 30, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Well, I was at the procession at Pall Mall where Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) had organised a protest unfortunately Her Majesty’s Finest would let people cross the road and this was an hour and 15 mins BEFORE the sodding procession. So I saw CAAT protesters on the other side of the road but couldn’t get to them! There was security, security and security galore. Coppers with Heckler and Koch guns, snipers and squaddies in bear skins. Champion!

Anyway, the glorified horse and car rode past with the House of Saud and House of Windsor side by side and happy like pigs in excrement!

Took some pics and see post at

http://unionfutures.blogspot.com/2007/10/saudi-protest.html

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modernityblog

October 30, 2007 at 6:25 pm

it means that Ken will do almost anything to stay on the
“good” side of those in power, oh sure he’ll make a few
radical noises and even throw a few pieces of bread to
poor Londoners to gain support for re-election, but when it
comes down to it, Ken craves power and the trappings of power

no shock there

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Richard

October 30, 2007 at 8:07 pm

I just checked on the Guardian site, and yes it does say that the banquet is hosted by Ken.

However, this story on the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,,2201804,00.html) published on the same day says:

“This evening, King Abdullah will attend a banquet at the Guildhall in London, given by the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London. The Duke of York will represent the Queen at the event.”.

(Ken is not the Lord Mayor by the way)

….and the Evening Standard website publishes a story today which says:

“London mayor Ken Livingstone today condemned the Saudi royal family and accused them of backing groups who support international terrorism. He said the Saudis were the “principal” funders for the extremist Wahhabi sect, whose followers include Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 bombers. In an outspoken attack, he accused them of financially supporting intolerant Islam, a move bound to embarrass the Government. He said: “Far from the Saudi royal family being a stable force in global politics, they have been the principal funders for the Wahhabi sect which is the most intolerant strain of modern Islam. That’s why it was of no surprise that Osama bin Laden arose out of that strand of Islam, or that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 shared that view. For the Saudi royal family now to say they have wiped out terrorism is a bit rich – they have been one of its principal sources through that funding of Wahhabism over the last five decades.”

Perhaps you (and the Guardian) have got your Mayors mixed up.

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gotcha

October 30, 2007 at 8:10 pm

as if the guy writing this blog or twats like modernity blog would let that get in the way of a smear or prompt them to even check their sourcs

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Richard

October 30, 2007 at 8:11 pm

…and you are now the source for the same story on Harrys Place.

I don’t know whether Ken is planning on attending the banquet, but the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website clearly says the banquet is “hosted by the Lord Mayor of London and City of London Corporation”.

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Roy

October 30, 2007 at 8:25 pm

“gotcha, on October 30th, 2007 at 8:10 pm Said:
as if the guy writing this blog or twats like modernity blog would let that get in the way of a smear or prompt them to even check their sources”

That’s a little unfair, gotcha. Liam clearly said “According to the Guardian…” And the Guardian Website does state: “Banquet hosted by Ken Livingstone, also attended by Duke of York, at Guildhall”.

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gotcha

October 30, 2007 at 8:54 pm

yeah it’s not as if people like this don’t trust the guardian on everything else they write is it?

are they so desperate for a smear that they would even believe the story in the first place or not be tempted to visit the FCO site and verify what seems to any reasonable person like ill-informed shite from the Guardian.

Livingstone has met people I wouldn’t care to have tea with but this c@@t and his regime is of a completely different magnitude and it would be incredible if he were to stand up and welcome him to a banquet attended by other lickspittles of the UK political, arms and business establishment. mean, come on, f the story in the G didn’t ring some bell loud enough fr you to want to erify he story you really are lost and prepared to swallow absolutely any poison dished out to you.

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gotcha

October 30, 2007 at 8:55 pm

excuse the typos.

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Liam

October 30, 2007 at 9:08 pm

New Labour are generally so rubbish that it requires no suspension of disbelief to accept a story like this as true. It says something about them that even Vince Cable seems like an ethical colossus in comparison. And less of the potty language.

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