The
Greater London Council. Formed in the
1960s (
1966?) and
abolished in
1985 by the then
Prime Minister,
Margaret Thatcher, who decided that if those
pesky Londoners were going to insist on regularly voting for themselves to be governed by a semi-
socialist local authority she'd have to the most
undemocratic thing possible and get rid of the council.
From
1985 until
2000 there was no overall
organisation governing
London until the formation of the new
GLA (
Greater London Authority), whereupon
Londoners promptly voted for
Ken Livingstone as the city's first ever
mayor -- the very man who so annoyed
Maggie that she got rid of the GLC in the first place!