Mayor Ken tells of party bust-up

Ken Livingstone today gave his version of events at the controversial birthday party which ended with a man falling 15 feet down a stairwell.

In an extraordinary and highly dramatic statement to the London Assembly, the Mayor made a series of claims about what happened at the party in Tufnell Park in May.

But the Mayor failed to end the furore and at the end of his extraordinary address to the London Assembly, key questions remained unanswered. Chairman Trevor Phillips said: "The only important issue is whether Ken Livingstone used GLA resources to pressurise anyone or bring his office into disrepute.

"People have to understand how serious this is. If it is true, it is serious misconduct by one of the most important public officials in this country."

The Mayor maintained reports of his misbehaviour carried by the Evening Standard were untrue. But the Standard today rejected Mr Livingstone's criticism. The paper stands by its reports.

In his statement to the Assembly, Mr Livingstone made three main attacks on reports of events at the party and his conduct after it.

He questioned the veracity of eyewitness who gave their accounts of what happened that night.

The Mayor went on to claim the Standard inaccurately reported the height of the wall guest Robin Hedges tumbled over, claiming he had measured it himself and it was 10 feet high rather than the 12 or 15 feet reported by the paper.

The Mayor also claimed the account of eyewitness Stuart Williams, who said Mr Livingstone caused Mr Hedges to fall, was "riddled with inaccuracies".

And he went on to claim that the Standard had failed to published comments from his partner Emma Beal.

But in a dramatic twist the London Ambulance Service has confirmed that on its record the wall Mr Hedges tumbled over was noted as being 15 feet high.

And today Mr Williams stood firmly by his account as another key witness came forward to confirm his account.

Mr Livingstone made the assumption that a first anonymous witness quoted in the paper was Mr Williams, and that therefore the subsequent statement could be shown to be contradictory.

He said: ?On the first account on 31 May, they [the Standard] referred to an anonymous neighbour who merely announced that he was woken by the thud of someone falling.

?There are only two flats where that could have happened, the ground floor flat and the basement flat. I am told by Kate Beal that the basement flat was unoccupied all weekend, so we assume therefore that this was Mr Williams?s first comment on events and nothing in that would give me any cause for concern.?

The first anonymous eyewitness, however, was not Mr Williams but a woman who lived in the basement flat where Mr Hedges fell. She was in the flat at the time ? it was certainly not empty.

Today Elizabeth Rose, a senior hospital nurse, agreed to waive her anonymity after the Mayor?s statement. She said: ?I can confirm I spoke to the Evening Standard on the afternoon of 31 May and I told them I heard the thump of the man's body falling into my basement. Mr Livingstone is simply completely wrong to mistake me from the man upstairs who spoke to the paper later.?

Evening Standard also confirmed it had reported the denial by Emma Beal, Kate Beal and Mike Furniss.

During his statement the Mayor claimed that Robin Hedges actually attacked him.

He also denied accusations that he caused Mr Hedges to fall, manhandled pregnant Ms Beal and left the scene before the emergency services arrived.

As he sought to persuade the Assembly of his innocence, the mayor offered to take a lie detector test. But he rejected suggestions that he could best disprove the stories by suing for libel. He also refused to refer the matter to the press watchdog the Press Complaints Commission, despite being urged to do so by Assembly members.

The Mayor gave Assembly members his fullest explanation yet of his movements on the night in question. He said: ?I went to a party where I had three glasses of wine. At 10pm I was feeling tired as I often do at parties and I went upstairs and slept until 1am. I got up and I had two dances with Emma. Then somebody accused her of smoking a cigarette and we had a row. We went into the street rather than have a row inside. Then we said let?s go home, the party is effectively over for us.?

He added: ?We then went inside. Emma collected her bag and coat. Then we went out again. We went around the corner. At the point where Emma was reaching in her handbag for her keys Robin Hedges came around the corner shouting ?Help, help?. He had been told by someone that I was attacking Emma. He then jumped on me. It was technically assault and brought me to the ground. He then continued to try to keep me there. I struggled to get up.?

He said that once Mr Hedges got up, he headed back to to the house. ?As I was going up the stairs, several people were on the stairs. I could still hear Robin shouting. He was either on the stairs or at the foot of the stairs. As he tried to get around the other people he was leaning over. I heard a woman yell ?Someone has fallen.? I didn?t see. I was facing 180 degrees away from what happened.?

He added: ?It was an accident. This is entirely the sort of thing that could happen to anyone.?

Members of the London Assembly will now examine the transcript of Mr Livingstone?s remarks before deciding whether to take the matter further. They have been told that they can decide as individuals to refer him to the watchdog body, the Standards Board for England which can suspend or disbar him from office.