KEN LIVINGSTONE's "cry" is spreading it Paul Dacre's laird at the Daily Mail

For evidential reference, the following item has been retrieved from the London Daily Mail web site at appx 1905 Hrs GMT London Saturday 14 April 2012:

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Red Ken and the truth about video that reduced him to tears ('Real' Londoners were actors and he had watched video before)

He is forced to admit that Labour activists were paid expenses to star in his own party political broadcast
Mr Livingstone is already trailing Boris Johnson in the race for City Hall because of his alleged tax affairs

By GERRI PEEV

PUBLISHED: 16:24, 13 April 2012 | UPDATED: 13:59, 14 April 2012

Ken Livingstone was accused by his own party of crying 'crocodile tears' after it emerged that a political broadcast that made him weep used paid 'supporters’ reading from a script.

The Labour mayoral candidate wept at a screening of his advert featuring 28 unnamed Londoners spelling out why the capital needed Mr Livingstone back in charge.

He had described the saccharine production as a 'real tearjerker'. Labour leader Ed Miliband even patted his shoulder to console the former mayor as he rubbed his eyes during the screening on Wednesday.

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Red-eyed: Ken Livingstone, Labour's London mayoral candidate, cried during a screening of his own mayoral promotional video on Tuesday but admitted they were paid and read from a script he had already seen

On camera: One of Ken's 'supporters' who brought tears to his eyes but it was revealed they read from scripts

Ken's army: The election broadcast featured Londoners who said they were behind the mayoral candidate

In reality, Mr Livingstone had seen the film the night before, raising questions about why he was apparently caught off-guard. Last night Labour admitted that the 'ordinary Londoners' had actually been reading from a script.

They were also paid expenses for their time after the advertising agency BETC hired people from the street.

It is also believed one of the 'actors’ is a paid-up member of the Labour Party. The advertisement was created by film-maker Johnny Maginn of Mustard Films.

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At the beginning of the broadcast, Mr Livingstone sits behind a desk and says: 'We’ve all seen party political broadcasts before but this one’s a bit different.

'It’s a political broadcast on behalf of ordinary Londoners.’

While political parties regularly use scripts for their advertisements, Labour supporters rebuked Mr Livingstone for apparently pretending to cry.

Labour blubber: Mr Livingstone rubs his eyes as party leader Ed Miliband looks on

Shedding tears: Mr Livingstone rubs his eyes as party leader Ed Miliband looks on. Mr Miliband was seen patting the 66-year-old's back after he welled up

Overwhelmed: The Labour candidate for Mayor of London applauds with tears in his eyes as he views his promotional video

Overwhelmed: The Labour candidate for Mayor of London applauds with tears in his eyes as he views his own promotional video

The grassroots website Labour Uncut concluded that either Mr Livingstone's tears were fake or 'he was moved to tears listening to sweet words of flattery that he had practically written himself'.

Labour Uncut's associate editor, Atul Hatwal, added: 'Whether it's tax avoidance, relations with the Jewish community or crocodile tears, this election has virtually become a referendum on Ken Livingstone.

'There's no space in the debate for policies or issues, just the one, overweening flawed personality.'

The 'ordinary Londoners' were paid expenses for their time after the advertising agency BETC hired them

'Come on Ken': The film shows a montage of people - none are named - urging Mr Livingstone to win

Labour supporter or actor?: Labour bloggers suggested that everyone in the film was in fact acting

Down in the mouth: Mr Livingstone, right, is joined on stage by an equally gloomy-looking Ed Miliband

Down in the mouth: Mr Livingstone, right, is joined on stage by an equally gloomy-looking Ed Miliband, and this latest gaffe could further damage his election campaign

A spokesman for Mr Livingstone said those appearing in the 'party political broadcast are ordinary Londoners who are backing Ken on May 3'.

He added: 'No actors were used in the broadcast.'

The campaign team confirmed that those who took part were recruited by the advertising agency and paid expenses.

The 66-year-old's bid to win back the London mayoralty from Tory Boris Johnson has so far been buffeted by controversy. Mr Livingstone was plunged into a race row after saying 'rich Jews' would not vote for him.

The former MP was also damaged by revelations that he paid himself through a limited company, potentially reducing the tax on his income.

Research for Taxation Magazine by experts TolleyGuidance suggested Mr Livingstone paid nearly £78,000 less tax during the three years to June 2011 by putting his income through a private firm.

© Muhammad Haque world exclusive commentary about Barack H Obama and the "news” Saturday about a squad of his bodyguards being linked to a prostitution scandal

1830 Hrs GMT

London

Saturday

14 April 2012

The © Muhammad Haque Daily Ethical Commentary: DSK-’like’ “news” that MAY be later linked to Barack H Obama’s “fitness” for a Second Term!!!

Are these but mere tiny tiny signs that the Conrad Blackked DAILY TELEGRAPH Media Group will AT LAST succeed in doing what it had failed to do some years ago? Catch Obama in a sex trap. In a moral fix out of which Mr Hussein n cannot wriggle his way!!

In other words, The Telegraph is hoping against hope that it CAn prove that Barack Hussein CANNOT!

in recall reading one fo those very IFFY-suggesting pieces in the London TELEGRAPH [or in a similarly bent “Fleet Street” title] which was & remains the only source [for me] for makig the claim that the then very unrecognised Barack Obama had plagiarised someone and had invented a number of personal ID factors.

That claim never got stood up significantly at all and in did not come across either the Telegraph Group or even the London Spectator makig any similar claim.

And Mr Hussein Obama duly entered the well publicised House and laid claim to the even more well publicised Oval Office inside it.

Until probably now, today, Saturday, 14 April 2012 when the Telegraph is running what to me reads like a very similar attempt.

With the passage of years and the “contribution” to historic analogies involuntarily made by the DSK of France, the potential for mischief makig by Obama’s political foes has suddenly got very plausible referability.

“Obama caught in a prostitution scandal around his Columbia trip!” looks like a very real possibility in news terms!

And the Telegraph has got on with it already!

[To be continued]
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Barack Obama's bodyguards sent back to US after prostitution scandal

A dozen Secret Service agents sent to Colombia to provide security for President Barack Obama at an international summit have been relieved of duty over alleged misconduct.

Barack Obama under fire for picking a crony fundraiser as his ambassador to Britain

Mr Obama's campaign promises to change politics as usual had raised hopes that he would not continue the practise of doling out prized ambassadorships to cronies Photo: AP

By Philip Sherwell, in New York, and Harriet Alexander

6:13PM BST 14 Apr 2012

They are the stern-faced besuited agents, earphones in place, eyes scouring crowds for potential threats, who accompany US leaders across the world to protect their safety, ready to lay down their lives if necessary.

But an advance party of Secret Service agents deployed to Colombia to oversee security for President Barack Obama’s visit this weekend also apparently found time to pursue some local diversions.

About 12 agents have been sent home in disgrace in a prostitution scandal after at least one woman complained to police in the city of Cartagena, which is hosting the Summit of the Americas, that she had not been paid.

The agents, some of whom are married and including at least two supervisors, brought several prostitutes back to rooms in their hotel, which is also housing US delegation members and media.

“This is the worst scandal in the history of the agency,” said Ronald Kessler, author of In The President’s Secret Service, who broke the story after receiving a tip from an agency source.

Although prostitution is legal in Colombia inside so-called “tolerance zones”, the agents could still have been exposed to blackmail and the business is closely connected to crime and drug gangs.

The Columbian police contacted American diplomats, who tried to mediate the dispute and keep a lid on the crisis as a new crew of agents were rushed to the country from the US. US officials insisted that there was no danger to Mr Obama and that the shamed agents had already been replaced by the time the president arrived in Cartagena on Friday evening.

But two explosions from home-made pipe-bombs in the city on Friday evening and two more blasts in the capital in Bogota, were a reminder of the security dangers in Colombia.

Despite marked improvements in recent years, the country has long been plagued by far-left political terrorism, drug cartel violence and kidnappings.

"This is a very bad security breach is being taken extremely seriously inside the agency,” Mr Kessler told The Sunday Telegraph.

“Aside from the morality issues, even if prostitution is legal, this conduct opened these men up to the threat of blackmail. Terrorists could have gained access to secure areas and that could have resulted in an assassination attempt. The consequences could have been extremely serious”.

The incident also threatened to overshadow Mr Obama’s efforts to focus on the economy and boosting trade ties with fast-growing Latin America.

With Hispanic voters in the US crucial to his re-election hopes in November, the president has been keen to use the summit to show he is engaged in a region that critics have accused him of largely ignoring.

Colombian media reported that prostitutes descended on Cartagena ahead of the summit, where heads-of-state and delegations from 34 of the hemimsphere’s 35 countries – Cuba is absent - are discussing trade, the economy and regional co-operation.

The agents were staying at Cartagena's Hotel Caribe, which is also hosting members of the White House staff and press corps during the summit. A hotel employee said the agents arrived at the beachfront hotel about a week ago, and claimed they were drinking heavily during their stay.

The employee said the agents left the hotel Thursday, a day before Mr Obama and other regional leaders arrived for the weekend summit.

Edwin Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman, said the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which serves as its internal affairs unit, is investigating the men’s actions.

“The Secret Service takes all allegations of misconduct seriously,” Mr Donovan said. “These personnel changes will not affect the comprehensive security plan that has been prepared in advance of the President’s trip.”

The scandal – which prompted headlines such as “Secret Service Gone Wild” on Saturday - is the latest embarrassment for the agency under the Obama administration.

In a major breach of security that shocked Washington, three party-crashers talked their way past Secret Service agents into a White House state dinner hosted by the president in 2009 despite not having an invitation.

And in August, a Secret Service agent was arrested for drunken driving in Iowa, where he as arranging security for a visit by Mr Obama.

The agent, who was off-duty at the time, was recently sentenced to two days in jail and fined $1,250.

On the eve of the summit, Radio Cadena Nacional (RCN), a leading Colombian station, broadcast a special feature about the "thriving and well-organised" prostitution racket in Cartagena.

The programme featured interviews with local taxi drivers who take visitors to areas where they could find women. Once the price - usually around 80,000 Colombian pesos (£30) - had been negotiated, they drove the couple to a secluded area or to a network of residences where rooms could be rented by the hour.

"All the prostitutes are heading to Cartagena for the summit," one woman told the station.