Livingstone banned from Silverjet flights

As if the allegations about Ken Livingstone's drinking habits - broadcast last night on Channel 4 - weren't enough, it seems the beleaguered London mayor has now been banned from the transatlantic ‘business class only’ airline Silverjet. The airline's chief executive, Lawrence Hunt, has said he wants nothing to do with Livingstone, after he claimed the mayor "undermined" the London-based airline - which has invested £50m and created 300 jobs.

Last May, en route to New York for a conference on climate change, Livingstone's Silverjet flight was grounded for almost two hours at Luton by an air traffic control computer failure. On arrival at New York's Newark airport, the Mayor declared to an Evening Standard reporter: "It was the worst flight of my life". At the time Hunt demanded that the Mayor explain that his experience was no fault of Silverjet's, but he did not.

Yesterday, Livingstone said his remarks referred only to severe air turbulence above Newark and praised Silverjet for its "excellent" service. But it was too late for Hunt. "To come up with this explanation nine months later just isn't good enough. I can't stop him booking with me but if I find he's on one of our flights, I'm going to cancel it."

Livingstone is not the only one to suffer the wrath of Hunt, however. Last week Mike Stoddart, an analyst from stockbroker Daniel Stewart, was also banned after he claimed Silverjet shares were worthless. The shares plummeted 28 per cent in one day but partially recovered after the airline said Stoddart's analysis contained "numerous material mistakes". Hunt told the press: "The guy is a complete muppet and his note is full of schoolboy errors,” and added: “There's an exclusion zone around Luton for him."

Meanwhile, Livingstone failed to stop last night’s C4 broadcast of a highly critical documentary about him. The Dispatches film accused the mayor of cronyism, questioned his drinking habits and alleged that he was involved in a Trotskyite plot to take over the capital. Livingstone has accused C4 of a smear campaign aimed at sabotaging his chances of re-election. He is expected to take his complaints to the regulator Ofcom later today.