London Mayor Ken Livingstone has applied to re-join Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party after being expelled two years ago for deciding to run as an independent candidate against Labour in the mayoral elections.
A spokesman for Labour today said Livingstone's application to be re-admitted had been made "in the last few days" but said no decision would be made until July 23.
The original ruling expelled Livingstone from the party for five years, but the mayor is hoping he will be allowed to re-join earlier - in time to run as a Labour candidate in the capital's 2004 elections.
Livingstone, one of Britain's best-known politicians, had been a member of the Labour Party for more than 30 years until he was expelled in 2000 for refusing to back Labour's chosen candidate in the race to be mayor of London, instead standing himself as an independent.
Livingstone went on to win the election, beating Labour candidate Frank Dobson into third place and becoming the capital's first directly elected mayor with a clear majority.
But he may face a tough task in persuading some senior Labour Party members he should be allowed back in. Livingstone's victory in the mayoral race was seen as a sharp rebuke for Blair, who had said the leftwinger would be disastrous for the capital.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott - a member of the party's ruling National Executive Committee which will make its decision on Livingstone's application on July 23 - said Livingstone had in the past told a "a tissue of lies".
"I just don't believe this man in whatever he says," Prescott told BBC television.
"But of course I will be fair in my consideration when it comes before the executive," he added.