EVENING STANDARD continues "reporting" as part of the the strategy to make Ken Livingstone look morally deficient.

By ©Muhammad Haque.

0350 GMT

London

Tuesday 13 March 2012.

Editions of the Monday [12 March 2012] London EVENING STANDARD [a highly-hyped “free” newspaper that is artificially kept going by so many dubious ploys that will require a whole commentary of its own to be fully demonstrated] front page splash against Ken Livingstone fares cut “promise” was not so much a Morality bias but part of the strategy to make Ken Livingstone look morally deficient.

[To be continued]

Ken Livingstone may lose at the May 2012 London Onion Parade on Morality Deficit -1

The Morality Crisis which Ken Livingstone had apparently dodged for decades now catches up with him over his alleged tax dodging ploys-1

By © Muhammad Haque

0410 Hrs GMT

London

Tuesday

13 March 2012

I publicly advised Boris Johnson in 2007 that he would have to SHOW that he had a HIGHER morality than Ken Livingstone.

Boris didn’t show it. His “partners” in the “mainstream Media” did. One of those has struck k again. It is Andrew Gilligan. He spent the period pre-May 2008 London Onion Parade in digging up as many stories as he could. Some of those were splashed on the London EVENING STANDARD. The most damaging one involved the LDA [“London Development Agency”].

And I remain convinced that Ken Livingstone lost the May 2008 London Onion Parade as a result of the scandal which the disclosures about his lack of moral and ethical dealership confirmed in the run up to the Parade.

But I had already foreseen such an outcome and had pointed out, starting in September 2007, that Livingstone COULD be beaten by Boris Johnson on Morality ground.

It looks certain that this time too, the London Onion Parade may end with either Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson losing on Morality ground more significantly than on any other.

The beginnings of such an outcome oem are already being seen on the London Electoral Promotions wall!

[To be continued]

The Morality Crisis which Ken Livingstone had apparently dodged for decades now catches up with him over his alleged tax dodging ploys-1

From the London Daily Telegraph web site:

How Ken Livingstone funnelled £238,000 through 'tax-avoidance' scheme

Ken Livingstone channelled earnings of £238,000 through a controversial tax-avoidance scheme last year, according to new documents published on Friday.

Ken Livingstone invoiced a total of £238,646 to his company Silveta Ltd in 2011 Photo: David Rose

By Andrew Gilligan

7:20AM GMT 11 Mar 2012

Mr Livingstone, Labour's candidate for the London mayoralty, has condemned tax avoiders as "rich b*******" who should "not be allowed to vote".

However, he has faced accusations of hypocrisy after it was revealed that he has himself channelled his earnings through a personal company, Silveta Ltd, paying corporation tax at 20 or 21 per cent rather than income tax at up to 50 per cent.

Silveta's 2011 accounts, published on the Companies House website on Friday night, show that Mr Livingstone continued this practice last year.

According to the accounts, he invoiced a total of £238,646 for his services in the year to June 30 including speechmaking, radio and presenting for the Iranian regime's English-language channel, Press TV.

The money was paid to the company, saving Mr Livingstone up to £54,000 against the amount he would have had to pay if the earnings had been subject to income tax and National Insurance. Last year was the first of the 50 per cent income tax rate.

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The actual amount he saved depends on how much of the money he left in the company. The accounts show that he has piled up more than £250,000 in cash in the company, slightly down on previous years.

Mr Livingstone, who has called for a top tax rate of 80 per cent, jointly owns Silveta with his wife, Emma.

This arrangement allows him to split his income with her, even though it was earned entirely by him, benefiting from her allowances and status as a basic-rate taxpayer and saving further tax. He has also paid Mrs Livingstone from company funds as his assistant.

Mr Livingstone has made attacking the rich a major feature of his campaign. In three years, however, he has now channelled total earnings of £755,778 through the company, putting him comfortably in the top 1 per cent of all earners.

Mr Livingstone's tax affairs are causing open disquiet among his own supporters.

Last week in the Left-wing New Statesman magazine, its senior editor, politics, Mehdi Hasan, wrote: "The word 'hypocrite' is being whispered, and not just by the usual suspects on the Right.

"The simple truth is this: you cannot run as the populist, banker-bashing candidate, the one who backs higher taxes on 'rich bastards,' if you're quietly channelling hundreds of thousands of pounds of your own earnings into a company jointly owned with your wife. You just can't."

In an "open letter" to Mr Livingstone last week, a Labour parliamentary candidate at the last election, Jonathan Roberts, said: "Your relentless cynicism and negativity is matched only by your hypocrisy

"I want to walk into that voting booth and know 'this guy is the real deal'. I don't feel that with you."

Mr Livingstone has also been attacked in The Observer and The Independent.

His Conservative opponent, Boris Johnson, has criticised Mr Livingstone as a "tax-dodger," saying: "I'm very proud to pay all my taxes and not to have some complicated system where I pretend to be a company."

Mr Livingstone declined to comment yesterday but last week used a BBC interview to defend the disclosure of his company.

"Basically, I pay income tax on what is paid for me to my daily expenses," he said.

"But the other thing is, you know, I've used that to pay for other people to work on the campaign for Mayor and so on. I don't think that anyone really in Britain pays income tax on the money they use to employ other people to work for them."