BRITAIN: Mr Ken Livingstone looks set to return from the Labour wilder- ness and be restored as the par- ty 's candidate for next year 's London mayoral election.
Although the maverick mayor has still to face a "loyalty test "in early January,Labour ’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC)effectively cleared the way for his candidacy yesterday, voting overwhelmingly by 25-2 to consider his application o rejoin the party.
The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, did not wait for yesterday ’s vote, having already signalled his willingness to allow the return of a man he once said would be "a disaster for London ". Mr Livingstone, dubbed "Red Ken "for his hard left views, was expelled from Labour for five years after standing as an Independent and trouncing Labour ’s official candidate, Mr Frank Dobson, in the first mayoral election in 2000.
Chancellor Gordon Brown, Deputy Prime Minister Mr John Prescott, and former party leader Mr Neil Kinnock were among those strongly opposed to the plan to lift Mr Livingstone’s suspension early. However, Mr Blair has clearly decided that even Mr Livingstone ’s strong opposition to the Iraq war and to President Bush’s recent State visit to Britain – is less important than the need to avoid a second humiliation in a London contest which will come barely 12 months before the expected general election.
On Monday he London Labour Board, which includes MPs, trade unionists and members of the London Assembly, endorsed a plan to ask Mr Living- stone to rejoin the party. And yesterday the party ’s selected candidate for mayor, Ms Nicky Gavron, stood down. With Mr Blair apparently persuaded Ms Gavron would trail in fourth place behind Mr Livingstone and the Conservative and Lib Dem candidates, the expectation now is that she will run on the Livingstone ticket for deputy mayor.
On BBC Radio 4 ’s PM programme last night, Ms Gavron side-stepped questions about whether she would re-enter the race should Mr Livingstone fail to give he NEC satisfactory assurances that he will in future abide by the party ’s constitution. Ms Gavron said Labour members in London faced "a unique situation "requiring "a unique solution". The party chairman, Mr Iain McCartney, likewise avoided questions about that possibility after NEC member Mr Tony Robinson –of BBC comedy Black- adder fame –suggested there were "still a lot of hurdles to jump "before Mr Livingstone was readmitted to the party.
Mr Livingstone himself appeared in little doubt that he would be. He told a news conference: "There are people who get married, then get divorced, have a few years apart and then decide they’ve missed each other terribly. I see it very much like that – and they get remarried."
However, Labour MP Ms Kate Hoey said: "To bring him back now smacks of political fixing and cynicism."
And Mr Kinnock, now Vice President of the European Commission, warned Labour that Mr Livingstone could not be trusted to uphold the party ’s aims. Declaring himself "fundamentally and irretrievably against Mr Livingstone ’s return, Mr Kinnock told the Today programme: "Ken Livingstone has only ever belonged to one party – the Ken Livingstone party. There is no possibility, whatever his immediate future, of the Labour Party being able to rely upon sufficient loyalty and commitment to its aims and obligations."