Product Description

A comprehensive and fascinating account of Ken Livingstone's extraordinary life and career. For nearly 30 years this controversial political chameleon has been making headlines, antagonising, shocking and delighting the public and the press in equal measure. He became the first directly elected Mayor of London as an independent. Since that monumental moment he has won the 2012 Olympics and led the capital during the dark days after the July 7th, 2005 terrorist attacks. Ken is a story of ambition, controversy and ruthlessness.

A ripping yarn Telegraph

After his superb expose of Shirley Porter, the gerrymanderer of Westminster City Council, Hosken has again managed to turn unpromising territory into a corking read. He is the John Grisham of local government Evening Standard

The Livingstone portrayed in this impressively detailed and well-researched biography is a sometimes heroic figure: taking on the Thatcher government to fight the abolition of the Greater London Council, or standing up to the might of the Labour spin machine to win the 2000 mayoral election as an independent. But more often he cuts a rather lonely profile: shuffling around friendless in the House of Commons after he was elected in 1987, for example. Observer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179670 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 340 pages

Review
'The talk of the London Book Fair is news that investigative author Andrew Hosken, a senior reporter for Radio 4's Today programme, has just signed up to write an unauthorised biography of the Mayor. Last year he published a scathing biography of disgraced former Tory Westminster Council Chief Dame Shirley Porter' - Londoner's Diary, Evening Standard 'Saturation media coverage around the 2008 London Mayoral election should lead to national interest. There are few politicians around who can polarise opinion like Ken Livingstone, and here Hosken charts his unique and controversial political career'- Greg Eden (Waterstone's), Ones to Watch, The Bookseller'Ken has agreed to be interviewed for the biography, "Ken hasn't always obeyed the idea of keeping one's enemies close, but he undoubtedly reckons this is a good way to be forewarned of anything Andrew intends to write"' - Oliver Marre, Observer'Arcadia paid its largest advance for an unauthorised biography of Ken Livingstone. Hosken admits he is unsure how many skeletons he will find lurking in Ken's closet' - Celia Walden, Daily Telegraph'A splendid book, as easy to read as a good thriller. If we're to have a relatively clean political culture, people ... have to know there are writers like Andrew Hosken about' - Guardian on Nothing Like a Dame

About the Author
Andrew Hosken is a senior reporter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, investigating a range of stories at home and abroad. In 2003, he won the One World Media Award for a series on Algerian terrorism for Today. He lives in London.