US Ambassador Called 'Chiselling Crook' Over London's Congestion Pricing
London mayor Ken Livingstone reportedly calls the US Ambassador in London a "chiselling little crook" after the US Embassy decides it's staff will not pay the £8-a-day congestion charge when driving into London's central city.
"Mr. Livingstone made the off the cuff comment while giving his opinion of the US Embassy's decision not to make its diplomats pay the congestion charge when driving into the centre of the capital.
...The London mayors' latest outburst came in a row over whether diplomats at the US Embassy should pay the £8-a-day congestion charge, as the Embassy says it is a local tax and therefore, under the Vienna Convention, does not apply to foreign diplomats.
..."When British troops are putting their lives on the line for American foreign policy it would be quite nice if they paid the congestion charge. We will find a way of getting them into court either here or in America. We are not going to have them skive out of their responsibilities," Mayor Livingstone reportedly said to a local media source.
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Chiselling little crook
The London mayor is right on the money about the US Ambassador in London being a "chiselling little crook," but he's wrong to think the head cases destroying the US will pony up the car tax.
President Bush and his criminal associates have depleted the surplus we had under President Clinton (handing the cash over to his rich buddies via tax breaks), have bankrupt the nation and have buried future generations in a ballooning debt to pay for the folly that is the Iraq catastrophe. Unfortunately for London and the rest of the planet, a man who can't see the benefits of stem-cell research, views science as fiction and who personally speaks to God is not about to pay his taxes, foreign or domestic. Let me offer my apologies on behalf of the United States.