City Mayors: Ken Livingstone - Mayor of London City Mayors reports news from towns and cities around the world. Worldwide | Elections | North America | Latin America | Europe | Asia | Africa | Events | Mayors from The Americas, Europe. Asia, Australia and Africa are competing for the annual World Mayor Award. More City Mayors ranks the world’s largest as well as richest cities and urban areas. It also ranks the cities in individual countries, and provides a list of the capital cities of some 200 sovereign countries. More City Mayors reports political events, analyses the issues and depicts the main players. More City Mayors describes and explains the structures and workings of local government in Europe, The Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. More City Mayors profiles city leaders from around the world and questions them about their achievements, policies and aims. More City Mayors deals with economic and investment issues affecting towns and cities. More City Mayors reports on how business developments impact on cities and examines cooperation between cities and the private sector. More City Mayors describes and explains financial issues affecting local government. More City Mayors lists and features urban events, conferences and conventions aimed at urban decision makers and those with an interst in cities worldwide.

More City Mayors reports urban environmental developments and examines the challenges faced by cities worldwide. More City Mayors reports on and discusses urban development issues in developed and developing countries. More City Mayors reports on developments in urban society and behaviour and reviews relevant research. More City Mayors deals with urban transport issues in developed and developing countries and features the world’s greatest metro systems. More City Mayors examines education issues and policies affecting children and adults in urban areas. More City Mayors investigates health issues affecting urban areas with an emphasis on health in cities in developing countries. More City Mayors examines the importance of urban tourism to city economies. More City Mayors examines the contributions history and culture make to urban society and environment. More City Mayors describes the history, architecture and politics of the greatest city halls in the world. More City Mayors invites readers to write short stories about people in cities around the world. More City Mayors questions those who govern the world’s cities and talks to men and women who contribute to urban society and environment. More City Mayors profiles national and international organisations representing cities as well as those dealing with urban issues. More City Mayors reports on major national and international sporting events and their impact on cities.

More City Mayors lists cities and city organisations, profiles individual mayors and provides information on hundreds of urban events. More Ken Livingstone Greater London government | Livingstone  the politician | Livingstone - the Mayor | Livingstone’s legacy | Greater London government Created by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, the longest piece of legislation passed by the British Parliament since the Government of India Act in 1935, the London mayoralty formed the centrepiece of New Labour’s mayoral experiment designed to revive local government through the application of a robust American-style system of strong local leadership. The policy on the Greater London Authority (GLA) emerged in 1995 when the then opposition Labour Party was formulating its programme for government and required a solution to what was perceived as the democratic deficit created by Margaret Thatcher’s abolition of the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1986. Previously, Labour had been committed to the restoration of the GLC but had since come to the view that such a policy could be interpreted as tit-for-tit dismantling of Thatcherism and that a modern response to London’s needs in the 21st century was required, rather than just falling back on a familiar institution.

More tellingly, in its later days, the GLC was a by-word for the kind of New Urban Left politics of the era and the newly-elected Labour leader Tony Blair was seeking to mark a contrast by showing the electorate and the media that this chapter of Labour’s history was well and truly over. Although the policy on creating elected mayors outside of London was to come several years later, Labour entered government in 1997 with a clear commitment to restore elected city-wide government to Greater London via a new form of civic leadership, with a directly-elected Mayor of London and a constituent Assembly to scrutinise him or her. However, it preferred to wait until this could be ratified by a vote of Londoners before proceeding with the plans, with a referendum held alongside the May 1998 elections to London’s 32 Borough councils. Labour campaigned for a ‘yes’ vote in the referendum, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats largely opposed.

The Conservatives dropped their initial opposition to the Mayoral post (as it could detract from the City of London Lord Mayor’s prestige) but still viewed the Assembly proposals as a return to what it saw as the dark days of the GLC, while the Liberal Democrats favoured London’s leader being chosen by the Assembly rather than the popular vote. In all eventuality, the Mayor and Assembly proposals were ratified with 72 per cent voting in favour in the referendum. Having secured the necessary backing, the government then legislated for the creation of the Mayor of London and the 25-member London Assembly, with the Mayor being elected under the Supplementary Vote system (hitherto unheard of, except for among academics) and the Assembly being elected under the Additional Member System (mainly used in Germany and at that time also put forward for use in the new Scottish and Welsh devolved assemblies). The government argued that the Supplementary Vote system of first and second preferences was the most appropriate as it was the easiest to count, while ensuring that any Mayor receives at least 50 per cent support, but it is not necessarily proportional when compared to the more commonly-used Alternative Vote (which allows exhaustive preferential voting).

Similarly, the Additional Member System was chosen for the Assembly as it was roughly proportional and would not let one party dominate the body but also guarded against parochialism by having both constituency and London-wide members. Having being passed in Parliament in 1999, the first elections were scheduled for May 2000, with the onus then on the parties to select candidates for this historic post. Livingstone  the politician A whole book has been written (Nightmare! By Mark D’arcy and Rory McLean*) on the debacle surrounding Labour’s selection process for its candidate for Mayor of London in 2000 but much of the history bears repeating, not least for its soap opera-like qualities altogether quite rare these days (see Jeffrey Archer’s candidacy). Having secured the necessary legislation, New Labour’s mayoral project rolled on and prior to the selection stage, certain names were trotted out with great frequency when discussing the contest.

The media tended to concur with Tony Blair’s aim of securing a big name from the world of business to take the helm of Millennial London, perhaps Virgin chief Richard Branson, while with the Labour Party, still enjoying its post-1997 election victory honeymoon, former actress Glenda Jackson and erstwhile GLC member Tony Banks emerged as likely contenders from within London’s Labour MPs. Popular broadcaster Trevor Phillips came forward as the principal candidate from the ethnic minorities, who were beginning to make their presence known as holding 35+ per cent of London’s electors. Ken Livingstone, the erstwhile left-wing Labour Leader of the GLC who had achieved power through a palace coup in 1981 at County Hall, on the other hand, had dismissed the mayoral proposals as “barmy”, as if he still held out some hope for the resumption of business as usual for the GLC now the Conservatives were out of power. As a historical aside, Livingstone was at this point the Labour Member of Parliament for Brent East, having been elected in 1987 following the abolition of the GLC a year previously.

During his time in Parliament, Livingstone had penned a left-wing personal manifesto (Livingstone’s Labour) in 1989, perhaps in response to his media presence, but spent much of this period in relative backbench obscurity, finding little favour under any of Labour’s leaders. Although a member of the left-wing Campaign Group of quasi-Marxist firebrand Labour MPs, Mr Livingstone was probably better known for his restaurant reviews in the Evening Standard at this juncture and even reflected this in his Who’s Who entry as “lunching for socialism”. At best, Livingstone seemed like a kindly relic of the Bennite era, which had been successfully confined to the dustbin of social democracy by Tony Blair. During the passage of the GLA legislation through Parliament, Livingstone’s Campaign Group colleague and former GLC member John McDonnell called for the compulsory purchase of the old County Hall home of the GLC. However, this call went unheeded as the government were seeking a break with the past and sought a new home for London-wide government that would symbolise this. Therefore a Livingstone mayoralty would also not suffice in that regard.

It was perhaps emblematic of New Labour’s brinkmanship and inability to calculate the political mood at times but Tony Blair and his advisers were absolutely adamant that Ken Livingstone would not be Mayor of London, once he had actually decided that the post wasn’t so “barmy” after all, that is. To Blair, Livingstone’s ‘gesture politics’ endangered New Labour’s ability to reach out to Conservative voters and a Livingstone mayoralty could not be countenanced, at any cost. Livingstone had also humiliated Blair’s close ally, Peter Mandelson, in a recent election to Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, so as far as New Labour were concerned, he wasn’t so obscure. A succession of Cabinet ministers were touted as being the likely ‘leadership candidate’, including Northern Ireland Secretary and MP for Redcar Mo Mowlam and Health Secretary Frank Dobson (who at least held a London seat). In the end, New Labour settled on Frank Dobson as the ‘Stop Livingstone’ candidate, if only because he had once beaten Livingstone in an internal election to become Leader of Camden Council in the 1970s.

Occurring alongside the unpopular vanity project to install a £1bn Millennium Dome on the Greenwich peninsula, the battle to keep Ken Livingstone off the ballot paper appeared to strike a bum note with the media, who began something of a public backlash against New Labour. New Labour indeed tried every trick in the Labour rulebook to prevent Livingstone from becoming the Labour candidate, including a gruelling interview process where he was asked of his ability to stay resolutely ‘on message’ regarding Labour policy. In the end, the party managers concocted a convenient wheeze to halt the momentum for a Livingstone Labour candidacy  a convoluted and complicated electoral college where trade union block votes outweighed those of ordinary Labour members, who largely backed Livingstone. Using the votes cast by a handful of union barons, former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, who was pressured by Tony Blair to stand down from the Cabinet and run for the post, managed to secure the Labour candidacy by the narrowest of margins of Livingstone, with Glenda Jackson coming third in the poll. Having sensed injustice, Livingstone then announced his decision to run as an Independent candidate, which led to his automatic expulsion from the Labour Party.

In all eventuality, Livingstone was elected as London’s first Mayor, albeit as an independent, on 4 May 2000, with Labour’s candidate trailing in fourth place behind the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. To give an idea of the contest as soap opera, Frank Dobson then returned to the Labour backbenchers, where he remains and sometimes orchestrates occasional rebellions against his former Cabinet colleagues, alongside fellow Labour hopeful Glenda Jackson. Trevor Phillips stood as Frank Dobson’s Deputy Mayor as a London Assembly candidate, only to step down from the Assembly before the 2004 elections on his appointment as Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality. Former Conservative candidate Jeffrey Archer was subsequently imprisoned for perjury.

(* the title is an allusion to an exchange in 1999 at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons between Tony Blair and the then Leader of the Conservatives, William Hague, who remarked of Blair’s predicament: “Why not split the job in two, with Frank Dobson as your day mayor and Ken Livingstone as your nightmare?”) Livingstone - the Mayor In the period following the first GLA elections, the body got off to an inauspicious start, being forced to squat in disused civil service offices in Westminster while the distinctive new City Hall building was constructed on its London Bridge site on the south bank of the Thames adjacent to Tower Bridge. On assuming office, the Mayor signalled his intent to retain his independent status by drawing on the talents of all political parties elected to the London Assembly. He drew up an Advisory Cabinet drawn from all points of the political spectrum and also from outside the world of politics. The mayoralty aside, the elections saw mixed results by dint of the proportional system, with Labour and the Conservatives returning nine members each, the Liberal Democrats with four and the representation of the Greens for the first time with three members.

With no overall majority, Labour entered into a pact with the Liberal Democrats in the Assembly that saw committee chairmanships shared between the two parties, with the Chair of the Assembly alternating between the two. The Mayor also entered into this spirit by offering to alternate the Deputy Mayorship between the four parties during his term of office. However, despite Labour accepting in the first instance, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives refused the offer, which saw Labour’s Nick Gavron occupy the post for three years, with Jenny Jones accepting the offer on behalf of the Greens when put to them in the final year of Mayor Livingstone’s first term. This was quite convenient for Ms Gavron as she was selected as Labour’s candidate for the second set of mayoral elections in 2004 and would have been faced with the task of attacking the Mayor in the campaign while acting as his Deputy. In the context of this, it is worth skipping forward to note that faced with polling that showed Ms Gavron was destined to repeat Labour’s dismal performance in the mayoral elections, the Labour Party acknowledged that Ken Livingstone was on course for re-election and negotiated terms for his readmission and automatic selection as Labour’s candidate for the 2004 elections.

Conditional on his readmission and therefore Ms Gavron’s withdrawal was her assured position as Deputy Mayor in the second administration if both were re-elected. However, the preceding period could be fairly described as tempestuous. It is sometimes remarked that the legacy of Ken Livingstone’s first term as Mayor was the proliferation of ‘bendy-buses’ (to replace the ageing fleet of old-style tourist icon Routemasters) and bus priority lanes on the capital’s streets. There is a grain of truth to this, Livingstone did not assume control of the Underground tube network from central government until almost the end of his first term and therefore the only real power he had over public transport was to channel extra funding into the capital’s bus network. But the Mayor’s legacy does extend wider in terms of transport as while his Quixotic battle with the Department for Transport in the High Court over the Public Private Partnership deal is now largely forgotten, his adoption of the Congestion Charge has been viewed with interest from across the world.

Livingstone’s ardent opposition to the Public Private Partnership deal to renovate and modernise the tube network’s infrastructure has cost the tax-payer millions and saw substantial clauses inserted into the GLA legislation to delay the handover of the tube from the Department for Transport in case Labour was not able to prevent a Livingstone mayoralty from occurring. The spectacle of the Mayor of London taking the government to court to halt the scheme is now largely forgotten and for one reason: the Congestion Charge. The success of the Congestion Charge scheme, for which the GLA Act permitted but did not mandate, bought off a number of Labour politicians who opposed the Mayor’s re-entry into the party in spite of abysmal polling results for its then candidate in 2003/04. Livingstone actually adopted the idea from the business community in the capital, who had unsuccessfully lobbied for 20 years for a scheme to reduce traffic congestion in central London. It is now accepted that Livingstone’s independent status at the time allowed for him to push for the scheme without the burden of party policy or interests to consider. Without this it is doubtful that the scheme would have progressed from the policy formulation stage.

The Conservatives were openly hostile, the Liberal Democrats somewhat critical of certain aspects and the Labour Party had its reservations. In his second term, Mayor Livingstone is now proceeding with his desire to see the scheme extended into West London from its current boundaries. Alongside the Transport for London agency responsible for public transport in the capital, as well as major roads and regulation of the taxi trade, the Mayor oversees the budget and appointments to the boards of several other public bodies in the capital, commonly referred to as the ‘GLA family’. Through the Metropolitan Police Authority, the Mayor indirectly sets the priorities for policing in the capital and his first term in office saw an increase in the number of police recruited and an expansion of the community support officer scheme to provide additional back-up to operational policing in the community. The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, for whom the Mayor also oversees the budget and some appointments to, is a less politically charged body, especially given that central government continues to take the lead in resilience matters for planning against terrorist attacks on the capital. The London Development Agency is what one might more commonly recognise as an economic development and regeneration quango and here the Mayor also holds power to budget for and appoint to.

However, the agency’s role is significantly more corporate and business-led in comparison to the Greater London Enterprise Board set up as an interventionist instrument by Livingstone in his incarnation as GLC Leader. In particular, the Mayor has taken a keen interest in promoting London’s 2012 Olympic bid, which alongside tube expansion, he sees as the cornerstone of his second term legacy. He has even suggested that his second term should be extended by one year in order to see the bid through in case he not re-elected. The Mayor would also like to add Crossrail to his list of achievements, though this is largely in the gift of central government and reflects as a failing of Labour devolution project that the Mayor cannot use his mandate to secure such a sorely-needed improvement to the capital’s transport infrastructure. The Mayor also assumed control of the capital’s planning and development framework, the London Strategic Development Strategy, which was previously overseen by a quango after the GLC’s abolition in 1986. Through this, the Mayor can co-ordinate pan-London planning issues, such as the allocation of social housing and green space, issues on which he has clashed against London Boroughs over in the past.

Critics of the Mayor often point to his ‘tall buildings fetish’ as the Mayor makes no secret of his desire to see a London skyline dominated by skyscrapers. On a day to day basis, the Deputy Mayor has control over this area however, Ms Gavron being something of a veteran in these matters. In addition to this statutory strategy, the GLA Act also provides for several other strategies upon which the Mayor must formulate policy for, such as the environment (including waste and noise pollution), culture and diversity. The Mayor has taken to these with great aplomb, often exceeding what could be expected of him. Most recently, under the new powers bestowed upon him by the government in 2006, the Mayor has inaugurated a London Skills and Employment Board, which he chairs. Though the capital’s skills policy remains in the hands of the regional Learning and Skills Council quango on a day to day basis, the new body will see government, business and the unions sit around the same table to determine London’s strategy to tackle unemployment and skills shortages.

This new role becomes ever more acute with the constantly changing nature of the capital’s labour market, where more flexible patterns of employment have emerged, not least since the burgeoning of the communities drawn from the newer members of the EU in Central and Eastern Europe. Livingstone’s legacy As has been noted, the Mayor has substantially refashioned London’s physical environment  with bendy-buses now a common sight and the Congestion Charge scheme in full sway. He made the capital's successful 2012 Olympic bid his main priority and pushed for extensions to the tube network, especially in the uncatered for South East and East of the capital. Such policies have led to his enviable popularity among Labour members while Conservatives are as likely to draw breath upon hearing his name, not least because of the Congestion (or ‘Kengestion’) Charge and his perception as a Mayor for only Zone One of the capital (central London). Livingstone remains a divisive figure however. London’s local government leaders are far from content with his desire to see the number of London Boroughs reduced from 32 to just five in the name of efficiency.

The Mayor’s colourful private life and occasional outbursts, not least the incident involving his castigating a Jewish reporter for the Evening Standard (with which he now enjoys a frictional relationship), sees even some Labour members wishing he had never been readmitted to the party. Following a lengthy hearing by the Standards Board watchdog, Livingstone was deemed to have breached the Local Government Code of Conduct and was suspended from office for one month, though he was then given leave to appeal and successfully managed to have the sanction quashed in the High Court. Alongside the new powers bestowed on him this year via new government legislation, the Local Government Code and Conduct and Standards regime is being revised (relaxed, even) in view of the proceedings, demonstrating once again Livingstone’s knack for evading his would-be torturers. Livingstone’s maverick tendencies and proven ability to deliver may make Brand Livingstone seemingly unstoppable at times, but it has also enabled him to pursue more radical policies as Mayor, notably in the field of what his enemies refer to as ‘foreign policy’.

The Mayor’s Office is run by the stalwarts of his Parliamentary office, notably his chief of staff Simon Fletcher, economic adviser John Ross and public affairs adviser Redmond O’Neill, mockingly dubbed by one wag as ‘Livingstone’s pet Trots’ on account of their membership of the tiny far-left Socialist Action grouping. Though this may go some way to explain the importance to which the mayoralty under Livingstone attaches to issues as varied as the Palestinian question, the Bush presidency in the US and the internal politics of race relations in the UK. His hosting of events to promote dialogue with the controversial Islamic cleric Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi (who supports the stoning of homosexuals and beating of ‘errant’ wives) has angered many of his traditional supporters, not least because of the lengths Livingstone has been prepared to go to defend Qaradawi’s reputation against the claims of secularists and indeed other faith groups using public money.

Livingstone has also waded into disputes over the future of the Commission for Racial Equality, which is being incorporated into the more mainstreamed Commission for Equality and Human Rights, even arguing that the CRE’s outgoing chair, the former London Assembly chair and black broadcaster Trevor Phillips, was “so right wing he’d soon be joining the British National Party”. The Mayor retains a vigilant presence in such debates via his race advisor, Lee Jasper, a veteran of the UK civil rights movement and former chair of the 1990 Trust, which entered into controversy itself when it used its BLINK website to encourage its members to petition the Standards Board in favour of Livingstone during their investigation of his conduct. When another of the mayor’s advisers, the former Tower Hamlets councillor Kumar Murshid, was arrested on charges of embezzling public funds, Livingstone refused to dismiss him, though Murshid was eventually acquitted. It could also be argued that the Mayor has a ‘tick-box mentality’ when it comes to relations with the capital’s minority communities, staging tokenistic concerts in Trafalgar Square, one of the two public spaces in London under his jurisdiction.

All of the above came under a microscope in January 2008 when Martin Bright, political editor of the Labour-supporting New Statesman weekly, undertook a scathing TV documentary on the mayor, challenging his record on equalities and transport and alleging widespread corruption at City Hall. The row did blow over by the time of the election, after all no political party would ditch a brand as recognisable and effective as Livingstone on the say-so of a journalist on a political magazine, but in conjunction with a noisy campaign led by the London Evening Standard the mayor's close aide Lee Jasper was forced out as a result of much of the mud slung. The mayor's private life was also opened up to closer media scrutiny in the run up to the election, with the timely biography Ken by Andrew Hosken (whose previous subject was Livingstone's polar opposite, the Tory leader of Westminster City Council Dame Shirley Porter) revealing that the mayor had fathered several children to different mothers. Mr Livingstone, the most memorable city leader in London since Herbert Morrison, now faces a formidable opponent in the form of fully paid-up young fogey Conservative Boris Johnson, more than a match for Livingstone in the maverick stakes.

It is perhaps a reflection on his own success and Labour and the Conservatives' own failings that they have no alternative candidates within their ranks to put forward, thus ensuring that despite Tony Blair's wishes, its devolution project has hinged on Mr Livingstone all along. Ken Livingstone, first elected Mayor of London in May 2000 and re-elected in 2004 Also by Andrew Stevens Ray Mallon Mayor of Middlesbrough Alongside the so-called ‘monkey mayor’ in neighbouring Hartlepool, Middlesbrough’s mayor ‘Robocop’ Ray Mallon has acted as something of a poster child for Labour’s policy of elected mayors in England and his colourful pre-political history is as well known as his confrontational yet effective style of governing. Born in Gateshead in 1956 and elected on a landslide in 2002, Mayor Mallon is something of a divisive figure in Northeastern politics but considers his record to speak for itself. Middlesbrough is the centre of the Teesside conurbation in the south of England’s North East region, a gateway between Co. Durham and North Yorkshire with a historic dependency on heavy industry and port activity.

Though only arising from iron mining in the Victorian age, the town can lay claim to a university and Catholic cathedral, though it remains without city status because of the proximity of Durham and Sunderland. Other than this, its national significance is derived from its popularity among real-life cop show programme makers and its infamous elected mayor. As a proponent while a serving senior police chief of zero-tolerance policing techniques imported from New York’s NYPD, the charismatic no-nonsense Mallon was, and remains, feted by politicians of all parties. Mallon shot to national prominence while heading the crime-ridden town’s detective squad and achieved quick results by implementing the zero tolerance measures on the town’s streets and estates. In 1997, incoming Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair even chose the town’s police station for his final photocall of the election campaign, famously posing with the detective. However, Mallon’s crown soon slipped as in December of that year accusations were levelled of corruption among Mallon’s team, including claims by former suspects that heroin had been supplied to informants and suspects in exchange for information or confessions. The Cleveland Constabulary then launched Operation Lancet, a lengthy investigation into Mallon’s conduct, and placed him under suspension from duty.

After four years and millions of pounds, the operation failed to arrive at any conclusions and criminal charges against Mallon were dropped, though the disciplinary case against him remained. In 2000 the Labour government legislated to bring about its policy of introducing elected mayors into English local government via referendums in each council area. A year later Mallon, still under suspension, announced his intention to run for Mayor of Middlesbrough, were the post to be created. In effect, this turned the referendum into a question of not whether to have a mayor but if voters wanted Ray Mallon as their mayor. A campaign group was launched to secure the referendum and this was staged alongside several others in English towns and cities that October. More Mayor of London Mayor of London Mayor of London What is the Mayor of London? The role of the Mayor of London was created under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 as part of the Labour government's commitment to restore a city-wide government for London. The Greater London Authority (GLA) comprises a directly elected Mayor and a separately elected London Assembly consisting of 25 members. The Mayor and Assembly are elected for a fixed term of four years.

The first elections were held in May 2000 and the GLA began work in July of that year. Former Labour MP Ken Livingstone was elected Mayor on May 4th 2000. Having been rejected as the Labour party's candidate, he ran as an independent and was subsequently expelled from the party. He was re-elected for a second term on June 10th 2004, this time as the official Labour candidate having been re-admitted to the party shortly before the election. He stood again as the official Labour candidate in the May 2008 elections, but was pipped to the post by the Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, the current Mayor, who was re-elected to serve for a second term in May 2012. The role of the Mayor of London is not to be confused with that of the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The Lord Mayor serves for a one-year term of office and is apolitical. He presides over the City of London's governing bodies - the Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council - and is head of the City of London Corporation. He plays a key role in promoting UK-based financial services and related business services both nationally and internationally.

The Mayor of London, together with the London Assembly members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. This includes responsibility for transport, police, civil defence and fire services, planning, economic development and wealth creation, social development and the improvement of the environment. The Mayor also has a number of duties in relation to culture and tourism including responsibility for Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square. The Greater London Authority Act 1999 has been supplemented and updated by the Greater London Authority Act 2007 which grants the Mayor and the London Assembly further key powers in the areas of planning, housing, health and the environment. The new Act also strengthens the Assembly's scrutiny powers and improves other aspects of GLA governance. The Mayor of London will be elected using the First Past the Post system if there are only two candidates. However, if there are three or more candidates, as has been the case so far, then the Supplementary Vote system is used under which voters can cast a first and a second choice vote. If a candidate receives more than half of all the first choice votes, they are elected.

If not, the two candidates with the most first choice votes go through to the second round and the one with the highest total of first and second choice votes wins. In the event of a tie, the Greater London Returning Officer will draw lots. Background The abolition of the Greater London Council (GLC) in 1986 brought to an end 97 years of local rule in London. London's first government, the London County Council (LCC), was a directly-elected authority set up in 1889 by the Conservatives. In 1963 the LCC was replaced by the GLC in response to the continued growth in both the size and population of the capital; its first members were elected in 1965. Labour regained control of the GLC in 1981 headed by Ken Livingstone whose policies at that time led to him being accused of running a 'loony left' administration and earned him the soubriquet 'Red Ken'. The Conservative prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was determined to abolish the GLC and in 1986 succeeded in doing so.

When Labour was re-elected to power in 1997 one of its main manifesto pledges was to hold a referendum on the restoration of a democratically-elected strategic authority for London with a directly elected mayor and Assembly. A referendum was duly held in May 1998 and on a turnout of 34 per cent of Londoners, 72 per cent voted in favour of the proposal. The Greater London Authority Act received Royal Assent in October 1999. Controversies Ken Livingstone attracted controversy long before he became Mayor of London and has continued to do so ever since. His outspoken comments have frequently made the headlines. He referred to US president George Bush as "the most corrupt American president since Harding in the 20s" and in 2004 stated "I just long for the day I wake up and find that the Saudi royal family are swinging from lamp-posts". His remarks comparing an Evening Standard reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard earned him a four-week suspension in 2006, later overturned on appeal. Mr Livingstone's actions have been equally controversial.

He was widely criticised in 1982 when he invited Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to County Hall and again in 2004 when he extended a similar invitation to the Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, reported to be anti-Semitic and a defender of suicide bombers. On the other hand many of the policies pursued by Ken Livingstone when he became Mayor were welcomed, in particular his anti-racist stance. The congestion charge, while not without its critics, has been praised by environmentalists and is generally acknowledged to have been a success. His election as Mayor in 2000 was also highly controversial. The Labour Party led by Tony Blair was determined that the left-wing Livingstone would not be Labour's official candidate. A shortlist of three was drawn up; Health Secretary Frank Dobson, Transport Secretary Glenda Jackson, and Ken Livingstone, at that time Labour MP for Brent East. The complex electoral college used, rather than a one-member, one-vote system, was seen by many as the reason why victory was secured for Labour's favoured candidate, Frank Dobson.

As a result Ken Livingstone stood as an independent and was elected as London's first Mayor, with Dobson coming in fourth behind the Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates. In the 2008 mayoral election Ken Livingstone, standing as the official Labour candidate and hoping to be elected for a third term, faced opposition from Boris Johnson standing for the Conservatives, Brian Paddick for the Liberal Democrats, and candidates from the BNP, UKIP, Green party, Christian Peoples' Alliance and Christian Party, Left List, English Democrats and an independent. In the event Ken Livingstone was beaten into second place by Boris Johnson who gained a total of 1,168,738 first and second choice votes, compared to Ken Livingstone's 1,028,966 votes. History repeated itself in 2012 when Boris Johnson was re-elected with a total of 1,054,811 votes, leaving Ken Livingstone again in second place with 992,273 votes. The present Mayor has proved to be just as controversial and colourful as his predecessor, though in very different ways.

An old Etonian, Boris Johnson worked in journalism before becoming a Conservative MP in 2001, going on to hold shadow government posts. He resigned as an MP on being elected Mayor. By the time of his election he was already a well-known figure, having appeared in various television programmes including 'Have I Got News For You', and having attracted considerable media coverage over the years for his frequent and widely-reported inappropriate comments. But although Boris Johnson is often portrayed as a gaff-prone bumbling buffoon, this image is said to belie a shrewd, political operator. He succeeded in winning the 2012 Mayoral election at a time when his own Conservative party was trounced in the local elections. This, together with polls showing the reflected glory from the London 2012 Olympics has increased his popularity with the public, has led to much speculation about Boris Johnson becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party – something Mr.

Johnson has dismissed (in his usual fashion) as being less likely than "waking up on Mars to discover Elvis Presley sitting next to me." Source: Mayor of London website - 2012 Mayor of London 2012 election results: Boris Johnson - Conservative Party: first choice votes 971,931; second choice votes 82,880; final total 1,054,811 Ken Livingstone - Labour Party: first choice votes 889,918; second choice votes 102,355; final total 992,273 Jenny Jones - Green Party: first choice votes 98,913 Brian Paddick - Liberal Democrats: first choice votes 91,774 Siobhan Benita - Independent: first choice votes 83,914 Lawrence Webb - UK Independence Party: first choice votes 43,274 Carlos Cortglia - British National Party: first choice votes 28,751 Source: London Elects - 2012 Quotes "I want to clear up some myths about the recent elections.

They were not decided on the basis of who said what to whom in the lift. It wasn’t a question of tax returns or Cornish pasties or bus advertisements. The reality is that the people of London would not have given me a second term if they had not looked at the record of the GLA over the last four years and decided that it was respectable. "In fact it was more than respectable. "It was excellent." From the Mayor's speech, City Hall – May 2012 The case against Ken Livingstone | Politics | The Guardian Politics The case against Ken Livingstone For months now there has been an official whispering campaign against Ken Livingstone, designed to block his attempt to be London's first mayor. We deliberately sought out his detractors and asked them to set out the case against Mr Livingstone - on one condition: it was all on the record and verifiable. This is the result.

Wednesday 19 January 2000 13.15 EST First published on Wednesday 19 January 2000 13.15 EST Close Livingstone...at the GLC "We were determined to do in the GLC anyway, but by his conduct he made it easier for us to do it" [Kenneth Baker, Tory architect of abolition] "A great deal of ratepayers' money was spent on the personal whims of the people running the council" [Andrew McIntosh, deposed by Livingstone as GLC leader] and plotting... "He's a dodgy politician, an opportunist. He's got his own agenda." [Bernie Grant, fomer ally of Livingstone] "During the selection interview he was making it impossible for us, flipping all over the place" [Clive Soley, on trying to pin Livingstone down to backing Labour's manifesto] in parliament... "It was because he was left outside that he established an alternative agenda. There was nowhere else for him to go". [Margaret Hodge, Labour minister] "You know he would exploit it and it would end in grief and there was no point in doing it".

[Neil Kinnock on why he did not give Livingstone a job] and Labour leadership... "Ken believed that the party would turn to him. He's never understood that the party and the country have moved on". [David Blunkett, Labour minister] "I don't see why London has to suffer because he hasn't fulfilled his ambition to be party leader." [Brian Sedgemore, Labour MP] There can seldom have been a political figure in recent political history who so divided opinion, even amongst his colleagues. He is hugely ahead in the opinion polls while spurned by most of his fellow MPs. To many who have never met or worked with him he is charismatic, popular, cheeky and personable. To many who have, he is difficult and manipulative. To Millbank and Downing Street he is anathema. The prime minister has made no secret of his loathing for Ken Livingstone and has expended considerable personal effort to snuff out his chances of ever becoming mayor - to the extent where many wondered whether this was becoming an unhealthy obsession. More surprising has been the extent to which people formerly or currently on the left have pointedly refused to support Mr Livingstone or have positively attacked him.

Only this week the international development seretary, Clare Short, attacked Mr Livingstone in print, with the active encouragement of senior figures in government. But more often the campaign against Mr Livingstone has been more covert. A word here, a piece of "helpful guidance" there. Journalists would be approached and told that Ken was charming but "a liar". He was "a Trot", an unreformed and incorrigible "oppositionist". He was out for himself, not a team player. The problem with most such comments were that they were off the record, uncheckable and often defamatory. Over nearly a month we contacted many of Mr Livingstone's known detractors and invited them to put the case against him publicly - so long as they were prepared to do so attributably. Some refused these conditions. Many did not. The picture that emerged of Ken Livingstone - with some unexpected exceptions - was that of a self-obsessed, vain and manipulative opportunist who is temperamentally unable to deliver for London. Opponents ranging from members of the cabinet to former colleagues on the Greater London council warn that Mr Livingstone as mayor would become the de facto opposition to Tony Blair's government.

"He's a dodgy politician, an opportunist," said Bernie Grant, who once stood for Labour's deputy leadership with Mr Livingstone as leader."He's got his own agenda and he's not going to follow the party's policy in relation to London. I think there is going to be a big row with the leadership of the party and Londoners are going to lose out by it." Brian Sedgemore, the leftwing MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, said: "Ken is a sad and lonely figure. He continually portrays himself as a victim when he is in fact a destructive manipulator. If you slice him through the middle what you see is a man whose heart does not pump for the Labour party but who is completely obsessed with himself." Opponents of Mr Livingstone concede there is no single action by the former GLC leader which demonstrates his unsuitability for office. But they argue that his style, and what Terry Ashton, former general secretary of the London Labour party, calls "the drip, drip, drip - really splash, splash, splash - of unhelpful comments and criticisms" would be disastrous.

To his critics, comments widely reported yesterday allying himself with anarchist rioters in Seattle and London, are just a taster of things to come. Neil Kinnock, the last Labour leader to deal with Mr Livingstone running London, said he would be "an absolute answer to a prayer" for Tory-supporting papers. "I've got no reason to believe that if he found himself in the mayor's chair he wouldn't continue to extrude half-arsed ideas. When it's a Labour backbencher it doesn't matter all that much. When it's the mayor of London - picked up, examined and splattered across every tabloid front page - the only person envious of him would be William Hague, because of the coverage he got in embarrassing the Labour party. It comes down to the inclination of Labour party members to poke the Labour government in the eye with a sharp stick. It's got nothing to do with Ken and everything to do with the assertion of independence of the Labour rank and file. I completely, totally understand that, but its just not sensible ...

you can't afford to mess about." Mr Sedgemore told the Guardian that Mr Livingstone's call for the chancellor, Gordon Brown, to go "belongs to the Alice-in-Wonderland world of politics. One wonders why he wants the post when Ken clearly can't work with the prime minister. He keeps saying that he gets on with Tony Blair - it's a preposterous allegation. To get on with somebody takes two people." David Blunkett, now education secretary but also leader of Sheffield metropolitan council in the 1980s, has called the mayoral selection a "defining moment" for Labour members. He said: "Everything that he's done has always been antagonistic to the Labour leadership, it's always been about confrontation, exposing and dividing, not about healing and uniting. His great talent is in fact to present himself and to spin a case but that's not the same thing as being able to do deals and provide answers." Clive Soley, who chaired the panel which eventually allowed Ken to compete in the ballot to become Labour's candidate, said: "He is in his way a classic individualist - a bit like David Owen, or Enoch [Powell], or Tony Benn.

In Ken's case it's the cheeky chappie who says, 'I'm thumbing my nose at the government'. That's fun, you know. But what we in the Labour party have to say is if we want someone to do that, why don't we vote for [Tory hopeful] Steve Norris, who will do it rather better?" Interview Mr Soley said that in advance of Mr Livingstone's interview with the panel in November, he had been uncertain about whether he should be allowed to contest the party's primary. "On that first five minutes or so of the interview he was making it impossible for us. "I was quite prepared - much more so than others - to say, he actually is saying I'm not going to sign up to the manifesto. As that day wore on it actually got much more messy, and you got the other side of Ken which is this bit of him which is what makes him popular - the guy in the pub who says, 'I think this, and I think this, and have another pint', and before too long you're clutching your head ...

he seemed to be flipping all over the place." Mr Soley added: "I have to say anybody else who had been refusing to sign up to the manifesto wouldn't have got through. The only reason he got through was he's Ken Livingstone and a lot of party members wanted him." Margaret Hodge, one-time Islington council leader and now, as a junior employment minister, a fully paid-up member of the Blairite project, said: "Ken's such a loner. Because he's after the very quick headline ... he'll focus on the wrong things, he won't facilitate partnerships. The great prize of the mayor is the political voice it gives you. That's why he wants it. He will use that political voice destructively for Labour, to be even more vocal in attacking Gordon and attacking Tony." Mr Livingstone used the pages of Labour Left Briefing to declare last month: "I intend to fight a clean fight - there will be no negative campaigning from my supporters." Yet there is strong evidence that he was behind the spate of reports that the Labour mayoral candidate backed by Downing Street, Frank Dobson, was "depressed".

The journalist John Lloyd said he clearly remembered Mr Livingstone saying so in an interview in October, but asked for it not to be attributed to him. Other journalists claim to have heard Mr Livingstone use the term "clinically depressed" about Mr Dobson. To his critics, such unattributable briefing fitted a pattern with Mr Livingstone's tactics both during his attempt to wrest the Labour nomination for Brent East from sitting MP Reg Freeson, and during his assaults on Neil Kinnock's leadership in the 1980s. Mr Livingstone once said: "Poor Kevin Barron [Mr Kinnock's PPS]. Even he is in total despair with Kinnock. He says privately it would have been good to have a leadership contest with an alternative candidate." Mr Barron fiercely denies making any such remark. For some like the now-Blairite John Carr, the former chair of the GLC staff committee, Mr Livingstone becoming Labour's candidate would be a political disaster not because of what he does, but what he is.

"People voted Labour for the first time or came back to Labour in 1997 because Blair implicitly or explicitly said that people like Ken Livingstone and the politics of the 80s were dead, buried and gone forever. How would we ever explain to those people ... how a man like Ken now ends up in perhaps the second most important political job in Britain?" The GLC record Among Ken Livingstone's opponents there is uncertainty about the line of attack on - or whether to attack at all - his record in running the Greater London council from 1981 to 1986. Several people close to Tony Blair are keen to turn away from a debate about the GLC, preferring instead to focus on what they perceive as Mr Livingstone's record of almost unremitting hostility to the Labour leadership since entering parliament in 1987. Members or former members of the government - Paul Boateng, Tony Banks, Margaret Hodge - were in the GLC or associated with GLC controversy. "They've changed, he hasn't," is the Downing Street refrain. But if, as they argue, Mr Livingstone has achieved little since the GLC, what are Labour members to make of his record the last time he did do something?

In early 1984, polls indicated half of all Londoners opposed abolition of the GLC; by late 1984, that figure had risen to three-quarters. The GLC spent £25m on advertising and public relations between October 1983 and March 1985, of which £14m was directly about abolition. Aggressive, clever and funny assaults on the Tories - including displaying London's unemployment figures on a huge banner along County Hall, opposite parliament - boosted Mr Livingstone's popularity and frequently contrasted with the feebleness of the attack on the Tories by Labour at Westminster. Some metropolitan councillors blamed Mr Livingstone for provoking Mrs Thatcher into abolition. Lord (Kenneth) Baker, the minister appointed by Mrs Thatcher to take on Mr Livingstone, told the Guardian: "We were determined to do in the GLC anyway but I think that by his conduct of the GLC he made it easier for us to do it ... at the end of the day, when the GLC was abolished in 1986, there were not many tears.

It had ceased to be an effective local government agency." As leader of the GLC, Mr Livingstone made good Labour's promise to bring in a massive cut in bus and tube fares. Labour promised a 25% cut in its manifesto and delivered a 32% cut. The policy, under the banner Fares Fair, was popular and reduced car numbers in London by 15%. But it was overturned by a law lords ruling in December 1981, triggered by a protest from the outer london council of Bromley, which complained it was being asked to fund cheap fares when its ratepayers were miles from the nearest tube station. "They [the GLC] were actually copying what was taking place in South Yorkshire - and they implemented it so badly that it allowed the Bromley challenge," said Mr Blunkett. "The way it was introduced virtually guaranteed that it would live only for months," said Mr Kinnock. "A very good idea was effectively destroyed." But the former Labour GLC leader, Lord McIntosh, in a rare concession to Mr Livingstone, who deposed him, and his supporters, exempts them from blame.

The GLC precept on the rates almost doubled in London under Mr Livingstone, from 21p under the Tories in 1980 to 39.7p in 1983, and 36.9p in 1984 - in line, says Mr Livingstone, with Labour's election promises. Overall, it increased the GLC's budget of roughly £1bn under the Tories to £1.534bn by 1984, though this was brought down by rate-capping and the courts to £1.34bn by the time of abolition. Clashes with the government over money culminated in March 1985, when the GLC went to the wire in refusing to set a rate and produce a budget. Mr Livingstone eventually agreed to a budget that was, at a rate of 33.8p, considerably lower than the limits prescribed by the government of 36.5p. The crisis was, both in policy and tactical terms, a disaster. Mr Livingstone fell out bitterly with leftwing colleagues in cluding John McDonnell, now MP for Hayes and Harlington and once again his ally.

Mr Livingstone accused Mr McDonnell, chairman of the finance committee, of concealing the GLC's true financial position; Mr McDonnell, who joined nine other Labour members including Tony Banks and Paul Boateng in refusing to set a rate, accused Mr Livingstone of "bottling out". Minority groups Lord Baker says there was "a real danger" that the GLC would refuse to set a rate. But he adds: "I always felt Livingstone wouldn't go right over the wire - he'd take it up to the wire and make it as grim as possible but never actually go over. The consequences would have played into our hands which is why Livingstone was very careful not to do it. There would have been old people's homes that weren't maintained, schools that would have closed, everything would have collapsed." The GLC devoted substantial funds to community and minority groups, the so-called rainbow coalition. Mr Livingstone, according to Mr Kinnock, "became quickly and widely-known as an enthusiast for, sponsor of, spender of public money on, an assortment of zany ultra-left fads that obscured good work that the GLC did - and it also got a national reputation which had repercussions and political returns just about everywhere.

Everywhere in the country, where we had a byelection or local election we could distinguish what became known as the London Livingstone effect - the loony left - and he never made any attempt to counteract it. And of course it was a burden that we carried with us. That was Ken's main and lasting contribution." Cash for organisations such as Babies Against The Bomb - a creche for the children of peace protesters - won huge and adverse publicity. The GLC's equality and anti-racism policies are regarded even by some Livingstone critics as farsighted then and mainstream now. But Mr Kinnock said: "The way in which they did it completely alienated potential support ... there was a certain arrogance in the enthusiasm, the idea that there shouldn't be any compromise with the electorate. It's difficult to think of Babies Against The Bomb as mainstream. Ordinary Labour voters of all classes in society just looked at it and thought, what the bloody hell is going on?" How much credit, or blame, should Mr Livingstone take? Colleagues and critics portray a relaxed, confident leader, prepared to share praise and responsibility, strong on the big picture but weak on detail and, above all, a sucker for publicity.

Mr Blunkett said: "Our objection to Ken was that he never delivered. It [ the mayor] has got to be somebody who is prepared to do business with government rather than constantly saying it wasn't me guv, I wanted to do this, they stopped me ... that was the style all the way along." On the other hand Bill Bush, chief of staff at the GLC and now a Downing Street adviser, told Mr Livingstone's biographer, Guardian journalist John Carvel: "On the big issues I don't remember him ever being bounced by officials into an ill-considered decision." Mr Livingstone, he said, was "good at delegating, phenomenally productive", and because of his willingness to take public responsibility for mistakes, inspired people to "die in the last ditch for him". John Carr says Mr Livingstone was "a very good leader". But he said his work in the council was often overshadowed by his rent-a-quote, grandstanding style.

Mr Livingstone famously refused an invitation to the Charles-Diana royal wedding and made a series of controversial stands on Northern Ireland, inviting Sinn Fein to County Hall and commenting that the bombers who killed a woman at the Chelsea barracks were "not criminals or lunatics" in 1981. Lord McIntosh, now Labour's deputy chief whip in the Lords, said : "His term of office apart from Fares Fair ... was not only undistinguished and unsuccessful in policy terms but actually offensive in the sense that a great deal of ratepayers money was spent on the personal whims of the people who were running the council." Illtyd Harrington said: "I don't underestimate his popularity ... he's got a determination which I think is good, he's got a ruthlessness that would make him a success, but he doesn't believe in anything. His weakness is his incredible vanity. The only consistency Ken has is to himself. That sounds critical: he's always very friendly to me ... I can see why London likes him. I always remember one of my extended family saying to me, 'you know why we like Ken?' in the 80s. 'It's because we go home and our parents hate him' ...

Tony Blair is like the parents." Livingstone and plotting With an inimitable mixture of humour and faint menace, Ken Livingstone once said: "I love meetings and plottings. I didn't get where I am today without plotting." He earned a reputation as an opportunist and carpetbagger by moving swiftly through spells on Lambeth and Camden councils, and on the GLC in Norwood, Hackney and Paddington. But he won a respect and fear in equal measure from his most famous plot, unseating Andrew (now Lord) McIntosh as leader of the GLC the day after Labour took power in the 1981 council elections. "He came to power as a complete machine politician, spending his time on internal battles within the Labour party rather than fighting the Conservative party," Lord McIntosh said. "Whenever he was asked whether he would stand against me he equivocated. He's been doing exactly the same thing now ... [about] whether he would stand as an independent if he were not to be a Labour candidate. "A few people, a few leftwingers, some of them Trotskyite - not Ken, he never had the ideological commitment to be a Trotskyite - they met together, they decided a common line.

They then got into larger groups and decided a common line. They then got into the Greater London Labour party and by having a common line they often outvoted the trade unions and more moderate people." Mr Livingstone's links with leftwing groups outside the Labour party date back to 1978 and his connection with the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory and its newspaper, Socialist Organiser, which once backed Mr Livingstone, then fell out with him, and is now defunct. The SCLV argued for socialists to campaign against the "pro-capitalist record" of the then Labour government. Mr Livingstone was enthusiastically supported by London Labour Briefing. In its current guise, Labour Left Briefing, it supports Livingstone for the mayoralty and continues to assault the Labour leadership. Lady (Glenys) Thornton, former chair of the London Labour party (and John Carr's wife) said: "His record during that period was one of damning these people that didn't agree with his kind of 'politics of the people' and making life miserable for them. One of the worst characteristics of the London Labour party in the 80s was his treatment of some of the people that wished to challenge the hegemony.

It wasn't about wider democratic politics - it was about who controls the left; in that sense it's classic Trotskyist politics." Mr Livingstone, Lambeth leader Ted Knight, and another Lambeth councillor, Matthew Warburton, set up the newspaper Labour Herald. He withdrew from the board as he was condemned for finally agreeing to set a budget in the capping row which split Mr Livingstone from many of his colleagues in 1985. Labour Herald was printed by Astmoor Litho, a publishing company owned by the Workers' Revolutionary Party, the vehicle of his friend, the leader Gerry Healy. "He [Livingstone] is not a dinosaur, not a kind of stick in the mud Trotskyite... fundamentally he's an old fashioned Keynesian tax-and-spend socialist who doesn't agree with the whole drift of Labour policy these days," said John Carr.

"Ken did get very embroiled - inexplicably to some - in some of the internal disputes that were in the WRP over Gerry Healy and Vanessa Redgrave and all of that." Last year Ken Livingstone said of Mr Healy: "I never met the man until I was 36 years old and I am far too independent-minded ever to submit myself to Marxist discipline." But in the foreword to a book, Gerry Healy: A Revolutionary Life, Mr Livingstone painted a different gloss. Though the men had "fundamental differences", he wrote, "it was a privilege to have worked with Gerry Healy". Healy's paper, News Line, was "thorough and objective" in its coverage of the GLC. Mr Livingstone still attracts support from left groups outside the Labour party. "Organise for Livingstone! Break free from Millbank mafia," calls Socialist Outlook, a monthly Marxist review.

Last month's Socialist Review reported: "Millions betrayed by Labour: The campaign by Livingstone for mayor can become a rallying point for all those who oppose the Blair agenda in a way which goes beyond Livingstone's actual politics, which is why those on the left support him against Blair." After Socialist Workers Party supporters picketed Mr Sedgemore's surgery in his support, Mr Livingstone said it was a "very serious falsehood" to suggest he was being funded by the SWP. Socialist Action, formerly the International Marxist Group, has also given him strong support. "The truth is that I am prepared to work for people when there is political agreement," he said, but denied being their "tool". John Ross, a former leading light of Socialist Action, was appointed as his researcher in 1987, helped compile his extensive economic database and, now working for the Russian trade union movement based in Moscow, is still employed part-time by Livingstone to help produce his Socialist Economic Bulletin, a periodical funded by the MP's outside earnings through his company LocalAction. His chief of staff, Simon Fletcher, has links with Socialist Action and Mr Livingstone is close to another Socialist Action mainstay, Redmond O'Neill.

"I just always operated within the Labour party and was prepared to work with any left groupings inside or outside it on a series of policy issues," Mr Livingstone told John Carvel. "The relationship goes hot and cold." Mr Kinnock said of Mr Livingstone's supporters: "If you are relying on people to do your footslogging who are from the ultra left they do have a certain temperament. Politics is their whole life, they've got no hinterland, they are obsessive and really the siege troops came from that element ... despite, frequently, their intellectual intelligence, they're the daftest sods, so they must be easy to manipulate." But Mr Kinnock exempts Mr Livingstone from the charge of being a Trotskyist. "He's a Kennist. He really is. 'Red Ken' was always a bit of a joke. I don't think he's even a Red." According to John Carr, Mr Livingstone as GLC leader was always focused on becoming an MP.

He was foiled in his attempt to take Brent East in 1983 but eventually succeeded in forcing out Reg Freeson in 1987 as part of a sustained campaign by leftwingers working through a group, Target 87. The GLC set up an Irish centre in Brent during Mr Livingstone's tenure, which went through a series of crises and overspends. "He indulged the Irish people there, and they indulged him by voting for him," said Illtyd Harrington. Mr Freeson said Mr Livingstone's supporters made life so difficult for him that "in effect I was being excluded, and quite consciously excluded from doing my job as an MP". In parliament By any standards, Ken Livingstone's 12-year parliamentary career has been undistinguished, proof, critics say, of his inability to forge alliances and work with colleagues. For the mayoral race he has the support of eight of London's 57 Labour MPs, including himself; Mr Dobson has 43.

Initially coldshouldered by members of the leftwing Campaign group, angry with him for what they saw as his cave-in over capping, Mr Livingstone has failed, as some expected, to take over from Tony Benn as leader of the parliamentary left. Though Mr Livingstone was the Campaign group's choice to run for leader in 1992 - he won the support of only 13 MPs when he needed 55 to make it through to the final ballot - it did not consolidate his position. He shared the ticket with Bernie Grant but, says Mr Grant, "there was no working together. The Campaign group felt that somebody should put up, make a token gesture - I pulled the short straw - we never went on television together." As even his opponents concede, he was given a rude introduction to parliament. The whips ensured he was the last MP to be given an office. He admits detesting Neil Kinnock. But according to some loyalists, attempts were made to take Mr Livingstone on board. "In 1988 we were planning the local elections and I said we should use Ken," said Mrs Hodge. "[But] he was so hated by all the other people ...

I am still of the view that if we had used him then ... I think Ken would have come in board. It was just because he was left outside that he established an alternative agenda ... out of pique and [because] there was nowhere else he could go." Both Mr Livingstone and his opponents say the crucial event in his estrangement from the leadership was in 1987, when he joined an attempt to deliver a joint slate for the shadow cabinet elections from the soft left Tribune group and the hard left Campaign group. Tribune group members Gordon Brown and, with an impassioned speech, Jack Straw, repelled the effort. Mr Kinnock said he never considered bringing Mr Livingstone in. "You knew with Ken that he wouldn't say, 'I recognise the gesture, I'm interested in constructing and therefore I'll get on with it', like a lot of other people did. You knew very well that he would take such an opportunity as a sign of concession, he would exploit it and it would end in grief and there was no point in doing it." The Labour leadership "When we were on the GLC together he did say at various points that he had an ambition to be leader of the Labour party," John Carr said.

"He's still got the same glint in his eye, he's still got the same agenda ... Ken believes that in the end the rightwing project as he would call it, the Blairites will fail ... and the rank and file of the party will turn once again to the left and look for a new leader, and Tony Benn's mantle will be resting on Ken's shoulders and he'll be waiting for the call." During the 1980s, said David Blunkett, "Ken did believe at the time, seriously, that the party would turn to him to replace Neil Kinnock. He believed that when we lost the 1987 election, and he believed it again in 1992, that the party would turn to him, and he's never understood yet why that wasn't the case, that the party and the country had moved on." Brian Sedgemore offered an alternative take. "He wanted to be leader of the party. That's an unfulfilled ambition. I don't see, because he hasn't fulfilled his ambition, why London should have to suffer."

Question: Which former Labour MP and government minister contested the election for Mayor of London with Ken Livingstone?
Answer: Frank Dobson