London Mayor Mr Ken Livingstone's application to rejoin the Labour Party failed today.
Labour's National Executive rejected his bid by 17 votes to 13, a party spokesman said.
Despite the optimism among Mr Livingstone's supporters, senior Labour figures never gave his application much chance of success.
A Labour spokesman said key considerations raised during the meeting were whether Mr Livingstone could be trusted to adhere to party rules - being drawn up at the same meeting - on selecting the mayoral candidate.
Another factor had been that the automatic five-year expulsion for running against a Labour candidate should apply to all members equally.
The spokesman said: "The vote followed a very full and very considered debate and everybody who spoke did acknowledge it was a constructive and positive discussion and it was being conducted without any acrimony".
PA
