Livingstone Elected: London's First Direct Mayor
Ken Livingstone won London's first direct mayoral election on May 4, 2000, running as an independent after the Labour Party expelled him for refusing to withdraw in favor of their official candidate, Frank Dobson. Livingstone had been a controversial left-wing leader of the Greater London Council before Margaret Thatcher abolished it in 1986. As mayor, he introduced the congestion charge in 2003, a daily fee for driving into central London that reduced traffic by 30% and raised over 100 million pounds annually for public transport. The policy became a model studied by cities worldwide. Livingstone also won the 2012 Olympics bid for London. He was defeated by Boris Johnson in 2008 and again in 2012, ending his decade-long dominance of London politics.
May 4, 2000
26 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on May 4
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