KEN LIVINGSTONE, the mayor of London, is planning to celebrate the Cuban revolution by inviting Fidel Castro to the capital, writes Andrew Porter.

Livingstone is a great admirer of Cuba and has written in praise of its health and education systems, which he compares favourably to those of the United States.

He outlined his plans to celebrate the Cuban revolution to union officials last week. An aide of Livingstone’s then revealed that the mayor intends to invite the 78-year-old Cuban leader. Next year is the 50th anniversary of Castro’s return to Cuba to begin the long guerrilla war that led to the 1959 revolution.

An invitation could create another headache for Tony Blair, who is expected to call a general election in May. It will also open Livingstone, who was readmitted to the Labour party last January, to criticism that he is returning to his “loony left” days as leader of the Greater London Council as “Red Ken”.

One source who attended the meeting at which Castro was discussed said: “It was like being back in the 1980s. I’m sure the London taxpayer is not going to be too happy about funding this sort of pathetic jamboree.”

Castro has been in poor health after a televised fall in October that shattered his kneecap. But just before Christmas he made his first public appearance dressed in his customary green suit.

He has been a thorn in the side of the Americans, something that pleases Livingstone, who describes President George W Bush as “the greatest threat to life on this planet”.

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