Ken Livingstone, Criticised by Labour
The British Prime Minister and his chosen candidate for the post of Mayor of London have strongly criticised the left wing Labour MP, Ken Livingstone, who has announced that he is to run for the office as an independent. Tony Blair said that Mr Livingstone would be a disaster as Mayor, while Frank Dobson called him a liar for reneging on a promise not to break ranks with the Labour Party. Mr Livingstone said that he took the decision to defend the right of Londoners to vote for the candidate they wanted. He now faces almost certain expulsion from the Party.
Livingstone, the former leader of the Greater London Council, had lost out narrowly in the competition to become Labour's candidate. He complained that he lost because of block-votes, in the complex voting system to select a candidate. Mr Livingstone made his announcement this morning Frank Dobson was about to launch his campaign. He announced his candidacy in an article for London's Evening Standard, in which he claimed to be defending Londoners' democratic rights. He said that he had been forced to choose between the party he loves and upholding the democratic rights of Londoners. Voters in London will elect the Mayor directly on May 4.
The Conservative candidate welcomed the announcement, saying that he was absolutely delighted by the news. Steve Norris predicted that Mr Livingstone's move meant that Mr Dobson's candidacy was now dead in the water. Liberal Democrat candidate Susan Kramer pointed to Mr Livingstone's promise to Labour that he would not stand. She said that, if he is unreliable on this issue, how could he be trusted to run London.
New Labour's formidable electoral machine will now try to whittle away Ken Livingstone's lead in the opinion polls. They will focus on his leftwing policies as leader of the former Greater London Council. One of those policies was, incidentally, a then unprecedented dialogue with Sinn Féin. Ken Livingstone may not have Labour's organisation or funding behind him, but many Londoners are angry at the way in which Tony Blair has tried to keep him out of this contest.
