7/7 twenty years on

Ken Livingstone's speech from Singapore

Tomorrow is the twentieth anniversary of the 7^th July bombings on the London public transport system, which killed 52 people and injured hundreds more. That terrorist attack on London was followed two weeks later by the further attempted bombings of 21^st July.

It is hard now to convey the upheaval these events had on the psychology of the city and the way they affected how one thought about matters that were previously routine, like taking the Underground. It became quite reasonable to be concerned that it would not be possible to get London back as it was, that the bombings would permanently change how Londoners thought and acted towards their own city.

I am reproducing below the speech that the mayor, Ken Livingstone, gave to journalists live from Singapore in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

(I was at that time the mayor’s chief of staff).

Ken was in Singapore for the decision on 6^th July of which city would host the 2012 Olympics, which London had won. The brutal contrast of the 6^th and 7^th - from elation and vindication to murderous destruction - is one of the most extreme transitions one can experience in a political administration. As with all of the mayor’s international engagements we ensured a division of labour of senior staff with him and also in London, so that there was no danger of not being able to deal with any issues that may arise. On this occasion several of us were in my office, situated next to the mayor’s, when Ken’s speech was broadcast. I recall director of communications Joy Johnson, and deputy chief of staff Redmond O’Neill, watching it with me around the TV in my room. Others may well have been there but twenty years is a long time and memory can be faulty. What I remember most of all is that we did not say very much to each other after he had finished speaking. We sort of acknowledged each other and got back to what we were having to confront. We were well aware of the power of what Ken had said and the emotional content it involved. But it is one of the curious features of being in a situation such as this that you find yourself shutting down the danger of the emotional storm intruding into your thought process, in order to hold onto the focus you need for dealing with that very situation. At least in my case I didn’t allow myself a moment to pause and think too deeply about the personal horrors involved until much later on, in order to avoid them overwhelming me.

An hourly meeting of senior staff in the mayor’s office and the wider Greater London Authority team met to liaise with the Met, government, and of course Transport for London. Ken’s message through the media to the public set the tone for his administration’s approach. It was one of highly active government, to keep the city functioning and overcome the physical consequences of a catastrophic event, but also to give active voice to the need to hold the city together and therefore to maintain its character. Thus defence of London’s openness to the world and its multicultural nature was both an articulation of what London really is, but also a way to unite it against any force that would divide it to its detriment.

It was widely lauded at the time. He had written it, he would say, in his head when he went swimming, turning over in his mind what he would need to say in case of a terrorist attack.

Now, we are living through a period in which the right is on the march across the west. Hostility to immigration and multiculturalism are rampant in the parties of the right. The hatred currently directed at “Sadiq Khan’s London” is racism against Khan himself but also London’s diverse population.

Unfortunately within Labour there are forces that are willing to capitulate in the face of the aggression of MAGA and Reform. Blue Labour and Keir Starmer’s ‘island of strangers’ speech are accommodations to the right’s rise, not a means to confront it. Ken Livingstone’s 7/7 speech should remain of interest as the opposite approach to immigration and multiculturalism, in which they are seen as something to strongly defend; in which common humanity and openness are a unifying force against division that would weaken society as a whole. Thus the argument of the speech is not a purely moral appeal against division but one that argues for coming together in order that every person is able to be themselves. As Livingstone put it, ‘people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential. They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves.’ Far too few senior politicians are willing to make such a case at present, yet the active promotion of these ideas is more necessary than ever.

• Unfortunately I could not find the full clip of Ken Livingstone’s speech on 7/7. However these two clips here from ITV London and here contain two major excerpts, and I have reproduced the text below from the Independent’s report and the BBC’s archive. If anyone has the full clip, I will add it in here.

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Ken Livingstone’s speech from Singapore, 7^th July 2005

This was a cowardly attack, which has resulted in injury and loss of life. Our thoughts are with everyone who has been injured, or lost loved ones. I want to thank the emergency services for the way they have responded.

Following the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11th in America we conducted a series of exercises in London in order to be prepared for just such an attack. One of the exercises undertaken by the government, my office and the emergency and security services was based on the possibility of multiple explosions on the transport system during the Friday rush hour. The plan that came out of that exercise is being executed today, with remarkable efficiency and courage, and I praise those staff who are involved.

I’d like to thank Londoners for the calm way in which they have responded to this cowardly attack and echo the advice of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair - do everything possible to assist the police and take the advice of the police about getting home today.

I have no doubt whatsoever that this is a terrorist attack. We did hope in the first few minutes after hearing about the events on the Underground that it might simply be a maintenance tragedy. That was not the case. I have been able to stay in touch through the very excellent communications that were established for the eventuality that I might be out of the city at the time of a terrorist attack and they have worked with remarkable effectiveness. I will be in continual contact until I am back in London.

I want to say one thing specifically to the world today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at Presidents or Prime Ministers. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion, or whatever.

That isn't an ideology, it isn't even a perverted faith - it is just an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to divide Londoners. They seek to turn Londoners against each other. I said yesterday to the International Olympic Committee, that the city of London is the greatest in the world, because everybody lives side by side in harmony. Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack. They will stand together in solidarity alongside those who have been injured and those who have been bereaved and that is why I'm proud to be the mayor of that city.

Finally, I wish to speak directly to those who came to London today to take life.

I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others - that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.

In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live. They don't want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.

ENDS