Ken Livingstone has twice held the chief executive office in London local government. Firstly, as leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986 by the government of Margaret Thatcher. Secondly, as the first Mayor of London, a post he held from its creation in 2000 until 2008. He also served as Labour Party Member of Parliament for Brent East between 1987 and 2001.
He was initially elected as Mayor of London as an Independent candidate after the Labour Party chose not to nominate him as their candidate in the first mayoral elections. In January 2004, he was re-admitted to the Labour Party. He stood as the official Labour Party candidate for Mayor in the June 2004 elections, which he won with a total of 828,380 first- and second-preference votes.
On May 1, 2008 Ken Livingstone was defeated in his second re-election bid by Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, and his term as Mayor of London ended on 4 May 2008.
During his tenure, Ken Livingstone introduced a number of radical polciies such as the Congestion Charge, an attempt to tackle London's traffic problems, and other measures to promote the use of public transport, and the expansion of "social" housing. London was selected to stage to 2012 Olympic Games and suffered a major terrorist attack, the "7/7" bombings.