7/7 bombings: Ken Livingstone reduced to tears as he listens to powerful speech 10 years on

Livingstone was the Mayor when London was attacked by suicide bombers

Ken Livingstone listens to his speech on the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings (LBC)

“Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.”

These were the final, and most important, words of a speech former London Mayor Ken Livingstone gave in the aftermath of the 7/7 suicide bombings.

Livingstone was reduced to tears as he listened to those words today, 10 years after the devastating terror attack that shook Britain to its core and claimed 52 lives.

His defiant speech was one of his most powerful, remembered by many as a defining moment during his eight years in office.

Speaking via video-link from Singapore, where he had gone to celebrate London being chosen to host the 2012 Olympic Games, a shaken but strong Livingstone addressed the terrorists directly.

“I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in order to take others - that is why you are so dangerous. But I know you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our free society and I can show you why you will fail.

“In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential.

“They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves. They flee you because you tell them how they should live.

“They don't want that and nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another.”

His full speech can be accessed here.