Ken Livingstone was the first Mayor of London.
In 2000 he was an MP and was a popular choice to be the Labour candidate for the first Mayoral election, however the Labour party PR machine ensured their candidate, Frank Dobson, was chosen.
Livingstone quit the party and vowed to stand as an independent candidate. At that time he made a plea in the media to supporters to send him cash because he would need to fight an election without any of the normal political party support.
He won and became Mayor - and was eventually welcomed back into Labour.
When he had asked for money I sent him a £50 cheque. Soon after he became Mayor I got this cheque in the post for £9 and a letter explaining that it was the change left over from his campaign, based on what I had put in.
I never cashed it - the cheque and the story behind it are worth more than the £9 I could have deposited back into my account.
Jazpix 16 months ago | reply
That's a great story!