Labour have often denied they use command and control techniques on Twitter, yet strangely their Shadow Ministers, MPs and activists always end up singing from the same hymn sheet. Guido has long suspected this unity is fake and that lines to take are pushed out by spinners. Well it turns out that hunch was right:

From: “Tom Copley KenLivingstone.com”
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2012 13:47:37
Subject: Ken’s tax and income: urgent online engagement

███████ —

Details of Ken’s tax and income – signed off by his accountant – is now online here:

http://www.kenlivingstone.com/ken-releases-details-of-incometax

This shows that last year he paid the full income tax required on all his earnings at a rate of 35%. This is higher than Brian Paddick but lower than Boris Johnson because unlike Johnson Ken does not fall into the 50p tax bracket.

Guido Fawkes is using dodgy maths to try and claim that Ken only paid 14.5% in income tax last year:

This is deliberately misleading. They’ve calculated this figure by dividing the amount Ken paid in tax on dividends by all the money in the company. This is ridiculous – Ken does not own the whole company and money in the company was used to employ other members of staff. Ken has paid the full income tax required on all the money he has taken out of the company as shown in the accounts.

The truth on Ken’s taxes, from that “left-wing stalwart” the Spectator (of which Boris Johnson was a former editor) – is here:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7766343/how-much-tax-do-the-mayoral-candidates-pay

We need you to urgently engage @GuidoFawkes, @MrHarryCole, @DaveMorgan25, @BackBoris2012 and @Boris_Backer on Twitter to rebut their lies. Please tweet the link to the Spectator article too.

Best wishes,

Tom Copley
Digital Campaigns Coordinator
Ken Livingstone for London

How’s that urgent engagement going?

UPDATE: Well badly is the answer. The Spectator have now updated the article that Labour were so keen to push:

“It seems Ken’s campaign is trying to use our chart as proof that he isn’t avoiding tax. It isn’t. Our figures for Ken are simply the amount he’s declared he pays in tax divided by his declared personal income. It’s what he claims his effective tax rate is, not what we claim it is.”

Urgent engagement required.