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Labour heavyweights plan mayoral bids to 'stop Ken'
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard26.02.09
SENIOR Labour figures are planning to run for Mayor of London as "stop Ken" candidates.
Party insiders are pushing for an alternative to Ken Livingstone after the former mayor announced he will fight to regain the title in 2012.
MPs facing the axe after boundary changes at the next election are also lining up for the contest and view the move as a career lifeline.
Mr Livingstone, 63, this week promised in the Standard to take on Mayor Boris Johnson, accusing him of being "a disaster".
But there is fear within upper Labour echelons that Mr Livingstone could damage the party's image as a throwback to the past, especially if Gordon Brown loses the next general election.
There are now calls behind closed doors for senior figures, including Trevor Phillips, to seek the Labour nomination instead.
One Labour insider said: "[Ken] is seen as dried up and an incredibly bitter man. We want someone bright and ambitious that all Londoners will embrace."
Mr Phillips, 55, currently head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, ran for mayor in 1999 and has become a fierce critic of Mr Livingstone, a former friend.
The ex-London Assembly member recently said it would be "disingenuous and pathetic" to rule out a bid for City Hall. He is seen as a credible figure who would not be tainted by the Brown years.
Another name in the frame is David Lammy, the MP for Tottenham. The 36-year-old minister is seen as an able performer who has "star quality" which could be used to project a younger image.
Either man would give Labour a black candidate and allow them to draw parallels with the success of Barack Obama.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, 61, is also regularly mentioned. It is thought she could be persuaded to run if Mr Brown suffers defeat and she loses her seat. It would mean she could carry on playing a major role in the Olympics.
Dagenham MP Jon Cruddas, 46, is also a favourite among insiders but he may take a lot of persuading due to his seniority.
Other possible contenders are MPs facing electoral defeat.
These include former transport minister Glenda Jackson, 72, MP for Hampstead and Highgate. Her majority will drop because of boundary changes and she sought the Labour nomination in 2000.
Three elected borough mayors are also likely to run, including 43-year-old Jules Pipe in Hackney, Robin Wales, 52, in Newham and Steve Bullock, 55, in Lewisham.
Another regularly touted name is that of business entrepreneur and Labour donor Sir Alan Sugar.
Mr Livingstone has already referred to himself as "the Labour candidate" for mayor.
Reader views (20)
Mellie, London - you seem to be in a very small minority with respect to Ken. Long may it remain so.
- Dan, Manchester
I think Boris has been a good mayor, and I'll vote for him again. Ken is not interested in the rest of outer London, only for his friends on the debt riddled inner london boroughs.
Labour has yet to run a council without clocking up huge debts and wasting money on nonsense.
- John, Harrow
Ken can always do what he did first time round - stand as an Independent. That's what these Labour "heavyweights" fear most, and he knows it. It will be interesting to see whether they try and buy him off with some cushy job.
- Austen, London
Livingston lives in a bubble . he can't see what he did wrong. We wanted him out and Boris in. Alternate Labour candidates are irrelevant, we don't want any of them either.The whole Labour government is set to become history anyway with Brown now being seen as being at the root of the country's parlous financial position.
- M Wilkinson, London UK
Oxymoron - labour heavyweights. There ain't any!
- Andrew E, Leaving the sinking ship England
Why would any one would want to vote the political correct Labour party ever again after the shambles of the last ten years both locally and nationally ?
- Joe, Swanley Kent
I agree with kevin sullivan
- John P Reid, upminster essex
Labour up to its old tricks - playing the race card with Phillips and Lammy. what a sad, discredited bunch!
- Parky, Toronto, Ont.
Has anyone listened to Ken on LBC?
He is bitter and twisted.
If Boris gets it wrong he is full of venom.
Na na nana na schoolground jibes.
If Boris gets it right he (Adopt nasal tone)says " well of course that was MY idea.
Retire in peace Ken, get over it.
- Simon Ellis, Surrey
Even if Boris does become a disaster I would never vote for somebody like Ken.
- James, Surbs
They tried to stop him the first time around. That's what got him elected.
- Ted, London
Trevor Philips is no Obama. From what I have seen Philips is obsessed with race and Obama seems to think it an irrelevance, which is just how it should be.
- Simon, London
I know, they can get Frank Dobson to stand against him. That'll work!
- Adam, Harrow, UK
No one is going to vote for this odious man.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
He is seriously deluded if he thinks he will be mayor again. The reason why he lost is because no one likes him and also there is still the question of the missing money.
- Triffidqueen, Desk in London
Trevor Phillips possibly, but only because he is not conceived as being a Labour politician! Any high profile Labour politician is unemployable, let alone unelectable, and, will be for many years to come!
- Kevin Sullivan, Roehampton, London.
TThey are right about Livingstone being 'a throwback to the past'.
- Mac, London, UK
Ken's vote actually went up in the May election, and given that Boris is being an incompetent nincompoop, I imagine Ken's chances of getting in again are pretty good!
- Mellie, London
Ken must be useing the same tablets as Gordon if he thinks he will get in again
- Terry Chambers, London
'senior labour MPs' are all living in cloud cuckoo land. No one's going to vote for ANYTHING labour for a good 20 years - ie a whole generation - before the current fiasco is swept under the carpet. But don't worry unduly, no one's likely to vote for Ken again either!
- Marianne, SW France
