As soon as the recent phone hacking scandals broke, Ken Livingstone lost no time in
castigating Boris Johnson’s ‘dire judgement’ in dismissing the original claims as ‘codswallop cooked up by
Labour’. Livingstone also said that Boris ‘had at least two meals with Rebekah Brooks, one dinner and one lunch with James Murdoch, and one dinner with Rupert Murdoch [when he was]
trying to keep the lid on this story.’ Livingstone was at it again on the Today programme this morning, saying the ‘scandal
goes right to the heart of the establishment’.
Certainly, it was rash to describe the claims as ‘codswallop’, but is dinner such a crime? I ask because, according to his published diaries, Ken Livingstone had lunch with James Murdoch and others on 10th October 2006, two months after Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman had been arrested. The lunch engagement was so official and proper that it merited a mention in the Mayor’s
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in