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Michael White
Wednesday November 8, 2006
The Guardian

It's more like Old Ken Livingstone, daring tribune of the left, than New Ken, elected mayor of a global hub city, to be wrong-footed in mid-manoeuvre. But here was new, responsible Mayor Ken making a populist gesture of solidarity with Venezuela by buying some of its oil on the cheap, only to have his scheduled meeting with President Hugo Chavez cancelled this week because the prez was too busy electioneering. In fact, campaign rivals had used the deal to embarrass Chavez. London may have poor citizens deserving of cheap fuel, but is by no stretch a poor city. The last thing he wanted was photos.

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