Management Philosophy of the Greater London Authority

On 5 May 2000, Ken Livingstone became Mayor of London and Britain's first directly elected executive head of an administration. Returned as an independent, he had no backing from a party machine and inherited a weak administrative apparatus. Nevertheless, key strategies on transport, economic development, and land planning have been put in place in full or in their main outlines. A series of radical developments in management and policy have been carried through, while retaining high ratings in the opinion polls and rising approval from the business community. A popular explanation for this is the 'pragmatism' shown by the Livingstone administration. This article seeks to explain in greater depth its managerial/economic approach and to show that, while internally consistent, it is not readily understandable in terms of either the traditional right or the traditional left of the political spectrum.