- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 March 2000 01.32 GMT
Last night he also admitted he had twice failed to pay his taxes on time. Two county court judgments against his company ordered him to pay a total of nearly £13,500 - including £6,909 in 1996 and £4,514 in 1997. The company is also breaking the law by failing to declare its accounts on time - it is a year behind in making a declaration to Companies House.
Mr Livingstone said last night: "I believe that the demands were from the Inland Revenue. I am afraid one of the last things I do is pay my taxes and sort out my accounts."
The potentially damning disclosures were muddied last night by a mystery surrounding the man who lodged a complaint against Mr Livingstone with Elizabeth Filkin, the parliamentary standards commissioner. Ms Filkin received a typed and signed letter from John Jones, of Shepshed, Leicestershire, who last night insisted to the Guardian that he knew nothing about the complaint and had never written to the commissioner.
This immediately prompted speculation in the Livingstone camp that Mr Jones had been "set up" by someone to expose the popular MP who is front-runner for London's top job. However, the identity of the complainant made no difference to the findings by the committee and the comissioner that Mr Livingstone failed to disclose his substantial income.
Alan Williams, the Labour deputy chairman of the privileges committee, said last night: "I told my colleagues that when they came to their judgment on this case they should erase from their minds that they were dealing with Ken - they should think they were deciding about Joe Bloggs MP. The crucial point was 'wouldn't you think it registerable if you moved from making a few hundred pounds from the odd one-off speech to earning tens of thousands of pounds from contracts to make speeches?'"
MPs were heavily influenced by the fact that four years ago, when Mr Livingstone was making occasional speeches, Sir Gordon Downey, the former commissioner, advised he would have to declare them once they became regular events.
Accounts released to MPs by Mr Livingstone showed that between June 1998 and February 2000 he had made nearly £24,000 from the Independent, nearly £33,000 from the Evening Standard, £35,000 from Speakers for Business for 10 speeches and £11,000 from Prime Performers for four speeches.
MPs also felt strongly that Mr Livingstone was playing politics with the reply. He says he received the complaint on January 8 but did not reply until February 10 - when the ballot for Labour's candidate for mayor was due to close. Mr Livingstone says it took him four weeks to get all the accounts together.
Last night MPs in the Commons were astounded at the large sums Mr Livingstone was earning from articles and speech-making. Labour leftwingers joined Tories in accusing the MP of "cynically and systematically" misleading Parliament by not declaring the income for two years.
Brian Sedgemore, Labour MP for Hackney South, said yesterday: "It's one thing for Livingstone to lie to all party members about his intentions to stand for mayor but quite another for him to ask for grannies and granddads to send him £5 postal orders out of their hard-earned savings while at the same time he's got a secret stash of money on which he avoids paying income tax.
"While I make speeches for nothing on behalf of my constituents, Ken is away clocking up £70 a minute talking to various establishment groups for his own benefit. I wonder if he is fit to be mayor of toytown." Mr Livingstone said last night: "There is no suggestion of any impropriety or concealment on my part. My speaking engagements and newspaper columns are very much in the public domain and my company accounts are on public record." He said nearly all the money was spent employing researchers and subsidising socialist economic newsletters.
He also claimed that Shaun Woodward, the Tory defector MP who joined Labour, had prompted the complaint. But although Mr Woodward claimed he would complain to Ms Filkin about his income, he never did.
Undeclared income
January 31 2000 entry:
Remunerated directorships: Localaction Ltd ( formed to cover publication of Socialist Economic Bulletin and other writing and media work)
Sponsorship, or financial or material support: Temporary research, administrative and legal assistance from Campaign for Protection of Hunted Animals, linked to private member's bill
Overseas visits: January 1999 to Paris, with partner, to speak at student seminar. Trip paid for by European Study Tours of London
Registrable shareholdings: Localaction Ltd
Yesterday's additions:
Remunerated employment, office, profession, etc:
• Column in the Independent (£15,001-£20,000)
• Restaurant column in Evening Standard
• Book contract with Victor Gollancz
• Article for the Observer
• Regular speaking engagements for: Speakers for Business (£30,001-£35,000); Prime Performers (£1,001-£5,000); Interphiz (£5,001-£10,000); Norman Phillips (£1,001-£5,000); Right Address (£1,001-£5,000); JLA (£10,001-£15,000); CSA (£5,001- £10,000); Diane Boulter (£10,001-£15,000)
•Speaking engagements for Localaction Ltd
