Forum Topic

Ken...who he?

On the home page for Acton it says that prospective Tory candidate for Ealing/Acton is asking questions about the expenses for 'deity'Ken Livingstone's trip to South America and that he was snubbed by Pres. Chavez of Venezuala but gives no details as to how he was snubbed.Any one know?

Keith Iddon ● 6777d7 Comments

According to the BBC Ken was "invited by Lord Moynihan - chair of the British Olympic Association - to attend a sports congress in Cuba".Seems an ok thing to do with London hosting the Olympics in 2012. The BBC also say,"Similarly, the costs of the advance trip by key staff to Venezuela to prepare for the visit were also modest." So i presume Ken is off to Venezuela soon. Was he snubbed or not?

Neil Chippendale ● 6774d

That's alright then...would have been nice if we'd had the choice,eh?You'll probably find that a lot of the visitors from Cuba who will be invited to that event will be put up and jollied at our expense(wonder how many might claim asylum!)so the real bill will be more like 10 times his expense bill,as this country is way more expensive than Cuba.

Keith Iddon ● 6774d

Venezuelan, not Argentinian, I think !Aren't we going to get some spectacular Cuban cultural events in the capital next year as a spin-off of the trip ?

Tim Henderson ● 6774d

On the news tonight they say it cost us the tax payer £35,500:00 good life if you can swing it, I bet he does not put his hand in his pocket. But don't worry it's only money plenty more where that came from, "Tony can I put the congestion charge up to pay for it or shall I just hide it."

Anthony OBrien ● 6774d

Apparently the Argentinian President was in the middle of his election campaign - hence he couldn't meet with Ken.

Vanessa Smith ● 6776d

A waste of time for Londoners anyway.

Keith Iddon ● 6777d

Try Google News for more details but basically Ken was visting Cuba and had hoped to pop over and see Chavez who he was in the process of signing a discount oil deal. Chavez was 'too busy' to see him so it was a wasted trip - not that Ken was paying.

Dan Evans ● 6777d