All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA

Ken Livingstone’s relationship with the media has always been conflictual but he undeniably owes them a large part of his celebrity as a non-conformist politician poised to defend all causes even the most obscure. Year in, year out, his reputation as “Red Ken” has enabled him to make the headlines w...

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Main Author: Timothy Whitton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique 2010-06-01
Series:Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/6151
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author Timothy Whitton
author_facet Timothy Whitton
author_sort Timothy Whitton
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description Ken Livingstone’s relationship with the media has always been conflictual but he undeniably owes them a large part of his celebrity as a non-conformist politician poised to defend all causes even the most obscure. Year in, year out, his reputation as “Red Ken” has enabled him to make the headlines with the press representing him in a variety of ways and giving him in the process the opportunity to reinvent himself according to prevailing circumstances. He is also one of those people who in the twinkling of an eye can reach a peak of popularity before falling into a trough of opprobrium. He took full advantage of this to give the Greater London Council and then the Greater London Authority a colourful leadership but Londoners finished by growing weary of his incessant shock tactics. When they were no longer able to clearly distinguish between his politics and his antics, it was time for a change. In this way the first “third man of the country” had to give way to someone whose greatest credit was to represent this change.
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spelling doaj-art-72a91aa6b4794a6790304e94d419bbff2025-08-20T02:37:40ZengCentre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation BritanniqueRevue Française de Civilisation Britannique0248-90152429-43732010-06-0115410.4000/rfcb.6151All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLATimothy WhittonKen Livingstone’s relationship with the media has always been conflictual but he undeniably owes them a large part of his celebrity as a non-conformist politician poised to defend all causes even the most obscure. Year in, year out, his reputation as “Red Ken” has enabled him to make the headlines with the press representing him in a variety of ways and giving him in the process the opportunity to reinvent himself according to prevailing circumstances. He is also one of those people who in the twinkling of an eye can reach a peak of popularity before falling into a trough of opprobrium. He took full advantage of this to give the Greater London Council and then the Greater London Authority a colourful leadership but Londoners finished by growing weary of his incessant shock tactics. When they were no longer able to clearly distinguish between his politics and his antics, it was time for a change. In this way the first “third man of the country” had to give way to someone whose greatest credit was to represent this change.https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/6151
spellingShingle Timothy Whitton
All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA
Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique
title All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA
title_full All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA
title_fullStr All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA
title_full_unstemmed All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA
title_short All ‘Kens’ to all Men. Ken the Chameleon: reinvention and representation, from the GLC to the GLA
title_sort all kens to all men ken the chameleon reinvention and representation from the glc to the gla
url https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/6151
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