Kenneth Robert Livingstone is an English retired politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. A former member of the Labour Party, he was on the party's hard left, ideologically identifying as a socialist.
Livingstone at the World Economic Forum in 2008
Margaret Thatcher, leader (1975–90) of the Conservative Party, prime minister (1979–90) of the United Kingdom
County Hall in Lambeth, then home of the Greater London Council
Livingstone's willingness to meet publicly with Irish republican leader Gerry Adams (above, pictured in 2001), caused outrage within his own party and the British press
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. A new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority (GLA), was established in 2000.
Greater London Council
Council Chamber of the GLC, from the majority benches
GLC sign on a housing estate in the London Borough of Lewisham as seen in 2022
GLC coat of arms on old fire station on Albert Embankment, Lambeth, as seen in 2022