Tory leader David Cameron has launched a strong attack on Ken Livingstone during a speech to the Ethnic Media Conference. According to the BBC Mr Cameron described London's Mayor as an "ageing far left politician". He said that Ken Livingstone held "a narrative about race that sees people from ethnic minorities as potential agents of revolutionary change." Instead, the Conservative leader continued, they should be seen as "full and equal citizens who would rather build a better life for themselves and their families than man the barricades at the behest of middle class white fantasists".
Mr Cameron's intervention follows Mr Livingstone's long-running war or words with Trevor Phillips of the Commission for Racial Equality. The Mayor had accused Phillips of becoming so right wing that he could “join the BNP". This childish and nasty insult followed Mr Phillips' questioning of the idea of multiculturalism but is really rooted in the fact that Phillips backed Frank Dobson rather than Ken Livingstone in the race to be Labour's Mayoral candidate.
Mr Livingstone's meanness, the mounting bill for the Olympics, London's crime wave and increasing congestion should all make 'Red Ken' beatable at the next election but the Tories are still struggling to find a candidate.
Mr Cameron also used his speech to promise monitoring of the progress of Black and Asian council and parliamentary candidates within the Conservative Party:
"I know that monitoring makes some uneasy, but if we fail to find how well we as a body are doing, we have no way of remedying the situation."
The Conservative Party also intends to offer twenty internships for young Asian and black people to work at CCHQ and in parliament:
"The fact is that it's not enough to open the door to ethnic minorities. If people look in and a see an all-white room they are less likely to hang around. An unlocked door is not the same as a genuine invitation to come in."
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