they may both have permanently changed the face of political campaigning.

. For almost a month, ever since my colleague Andrew Gilligan revealed that Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London has been using a corporate vehicle in a way that reduces – perfectly legally – his tax liability, Livingstone has tried every trick in the book to evade his pursuers. It was a smear. A fabrication. A non-story. He hadn’t used a tax avoidance vehicle. Then he had. One moment he was claiming that tax avoiders were “rich bastards” who should “not be allowed to vote”; the next he was questioning why anyone “would vote for a mayor that pays more tax than they have to”.He might have got away with it too, were it not for the dramatic appearance on the scene of the unlikely heroine of the hour, Jenny Jones. The Green Party’s candidate for mayor hurled herself in front of Livingstone’s speeding getaway car halfway through Wednesday’s Newsnight debate between the candidates, by casually suggesting that all the bickering over tax affairs would end if everyone just released their personal details. Brian Paddick and a reluctant Boris Johnson agreed, leaving Ken?cornered,christian louboutin shoes.And yesterday, we finally got to the truth,ugg boots uk. Well, we got to half of the truth, as Livingstone decided only to publish the dividends he received from his tax vehicle, Silveta Ltd, not what the company actually took in. This is a company, by the way, that was ostensibly established just so Ken’s wife could work on the proofs of his book in their attic, and he could employ a personal press officer.Anyway, the details that were squeezed out – that press officer he’s employing suddenly became very reluctant to return calls – provided further evidence that Livingstone, the hammer of the nation’s tax avoiders, had beyond a shadow of a doubt been the beneficiary of tax avoidance himself. By passing his earnings through a company, spreading them over different years and paying dividends to his wife, he has coughed up less tax than if he were on PAYE or self-employed. There is no greater political crime than hypocrisy, and the man who would be mayor has been caught bang to rights.To be fair, his campaign was already in trouble following a series of bizarre gaffes, including the insinuation that Jews wouldn’t support him because they’re too rich, the staggering claim that the London riots “might well not” have occurred if he’d been mayor and able to ease tensions outside Tottenham police station, and the surreal assertion that he will “declare independence” for the capital if elected. Sadly, the prospect of this thrilling UDI appears to be receding. But the wider implications of Do-As-Ken-Says-Not-As-He-Does-Gate are only just beginning to sink in.Ken Livingstone and Mitt Romney have little in common,christian louboutin shoes, save for the fact that neither is likely to win an election in the near future. But in their own strange way,louboutin shoes, they may both have permanently changed the face of political campaigning.Each of them has been seriously damaged by the publication of their personal tax affairs, but in so doing they have made it virtually impossible for any future candidate to seek high public office without coming clean about their own financial dealings,coach outlet. Any loss to the gnomes of Zurich who oversaw Romney’s myriad offshore accounts, and the less exotic Brighton bookkeepers who make sure Ken’s affairs are in order, is the wider electorate’s gain.Whether it will turn out to benefit the body politic in general is a different matter. Following last week’s pasty and petrol panics, a view was already forming in Westminster that privilege and wealth ain’t all they’re cracked up to be. As the nation’s forecourts ground to a halt, and Francis Maude’s plummy musings were replaced by the earthy assurances of Mike Penning, Tory backbenchers breathed a deep sigh of relief,ugg boots uk sale. Suddenly, the clamour was for more blokes and fewer toffs.All of which may herald the start of a welcome new meritocracy – or a new and dangerous form of inverted snobbery. The silver spoon and old school tie should not be prerequisites for political advancement, but nor should an estuary accent and a working-class backstory.There are some in Labour’s ranks who are licking their lips at the prospect of a new eat-the-rich, bash-the-Bullingdon narrative. But they should be careful what they wish for,louis vuitton sale. The potential pitfalls lying in wait for the people’s party are, if anything, greater than the traps set for their blue-blooded rivals. As the past 24 hours have shown,christian louboutin shoes, double standards present a greater political risk than the most creative double-entry bookkeeping.George Osborne’s 50p tax blunder may have underlined that while we’re all in this together, some of us are more in it than others. But one upside is that the Tories now enjoy an arrogance and affluence discount; it’s what people expect of them. Fairly or not,christian louboutin sale, any member of the shadow cabinet caught with their hand in an unobtrusive Seychelles deposit box is going to attract more attention and opprobrium than a member of the Cabinet,coach bags.Just ask Ken Livingstone. The exposure of his tax affairs will prove to be his Iraq. The affair has resonated to an extent with the public, but the real damage has been done on his own side. There are many in Labour’s ranks who have been waiting for an excuse to pull their support from their errant candidate. Now he has handed them one. In doing so, he has probably also changed the nature of British politics. It is an uncharacteristically selfless sacrifice.
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