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If Ken Livingstone is really refusing to take Bob Crow's money, why won't he condemn his RMT strikes?

By Jonathan Isaby
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During Ed Miliband's Q&A on Twitter yesterday, one of my questions the Labour leader refused to answer was whether he was happy for Ken Livingstone's 2012 mayoral campaign "to be bankrolled by the militant, striking and disruptive RMT".

As I say, I didn't get a response, but Tory pressure on the Labour machine over the matter now appears to have forced Livingstone to distance himself from the militant trade union.

Nic Cecil of the Evening Standard is reporting this afternoon that Livingstone will shun the offer of cash from Bob Crow and the RMT (with Crow having said on LBC radio earlier in the week "Give us a shout Ken when you want some money"):.

“We have not received any donation from the RMT, have received no offer of a donation and as the RMT is not affiliated to Labour will not be doing so as it does not arise,” is what his spokesman is reported as claiming.

It does of course remain to be seen whether Livingstone finds some way of weaseling his way around that statement.

However, here's the next question: if Livingstone is accepting that he doesn't want to be tainted by RMT cash, why will he not condemn the RMT's irresponsible strikes, the latest of which are planned to coincide with the Wimbledon tennis championships?

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