| He was initially elected as Mayor of London
as an Independent candidate after the Labour Party chose not to nominate
him as their candidate in the first mayoral elections. In January 2004,
he was re-admitted to the Labour Party. He stood as the official Labour
Party candidate for Mayor in the June 2004 elections, which he won with
a total of 828,380 first and second-preference votes. On May 1, 2008 Ken
was defeated in his second re-election bid by Conservative candidate
Boris Johnson, and his term as Mayor of London ended on 4 May 2008.
One of Ken’s greatest challenges as Mayor of London was dealing with the
city's ageing transportation infrastructure. Ken introduced many schemes
including bendy buses, oyster cards and the congestion charge.
Ken also made a significant effort to reduce London’s impact on the
environment.
Ken also set up Britain's first register for same-sex couples; while
falling short of legal marriage rights, the register was seen as a "step
towards" such rights. Legal status was later passed by the government
through the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
In the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings, Ken initiated a
campaign to celebrate London's multiculturalism. In 2001 Ken revived the
free anti-racism music festival which he believes, along with other
anti-racist policies, is why London saw a 35% decrease in racist
attacks.
All this led to Ken being named 'Politician of the Year' by the
Political Studies Association.
Ken has recently been given a slot on LBC as a radio presenter and is
now available for corporate speaking. |
