During his time as Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone set up offices in countries such as China and India, to promote London’s businesses and encourage trade and tourism with these countries.

The Tories denounced this “foreign embassies” as an example of Ken’s wasteful spending, and pledged to close these offices if Boris was elected. After the election, a review found that these offices were, in fact, excellent value for money, and Boris decided to keep them open.

Over the weekend, David Cameron set out his strategy for economic growth, hoping to answer criticisms that his government is just fixated on making cuts. And apart from boasting about the few infrastructure projects which his government decided not to cut, a centre piece of the government’s strategy for economic growth is:

“We’re going to put economic policy at the heart of our foreign policy. I want every British Embassy across the world to be working hard for British business. Today the UK exports more to Ireland than to Brazil, Russia, India and China – all combined. What a wasted opportunity…I tell you this: British business will have no more vocal champion than the British Government.”

So in 2007 and 2008, the Tories thought that using offices in China, India, Brazil and Russia to promote business, trade and tourism was as an example of socialist wasteful spending. Now it is a cornerstone of their strategy for growing the economy.

It’s another example of quite how good Ken’s team was at developing effective policies to meet the challenges of the future – another area which the Tories opposed at the time and are now trying to claim credit for. But while this is a welcome U-turn, the government needs to have a look at Ken’s other economic policies as well if they are really serious about growing the economy.

(Hat tip @BorisWatch)

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

   Meet the new government adviser on growth…Ken Livingstone http://bit.ly/9SVAz4

2. Don Paskini

   @BorisWatch inspired by yr tweet http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/10/25/meet-the-new-government-adviser-on-growth-ken-livingstone/

3. Don Paskini

   RT @libcon: Meet the new government adviser on growth…Ken Livingstone http://bit.ly/9SVAz4

4. davidschoibl

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5. Joshua Fenton-Glynn

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6. Duncan Weldon

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7. Other TaxPayers Alli

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9. The Friendly Lefty

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10. Gareth Winchester

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11. sunny hundal

    Meet the Coalition's newest advisor on economic growth… Ken Livingstone! http://bit.ly/9SVAz4 (by @donpaskini)

12. Robin Cowan

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13. Shelly Asquith

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14. jennifer roberts

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15. Darren Burgoyne

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16. Angela Pateman

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17. Brian Moylan

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18. Lucy Proctor

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20. Tom Miller

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21. Pucci Dellanno

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