THROUGHOUT my spells in London government, I always sought to use whatever powers and resources we had in order to make the biggest difference possible for the majority of residents. 

Whether it was giving public transport the investment it was crying out for and ensuring that it was a common-sense, affordable option or backing initiatives for social equality, we were committed to making the most out of the office voters had put us in.

As well as implementing popular progressive policies, those of us involved in the Greater London Council also saw it as incumbent upon us to use our platform to support important causes, such as placing the unemployment figures of the Thatcher era on a billboard by County Hall, or championing justice in Ireland — a tradition I continued as mayor by declaring London a city of peace in response to the Iraq war.