[A-List] UK state: London mayoral election

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Rail union lays Labour link on the line

Kevin Maguire
Wednesday June 4, 2003
The Guardian

One of the trade unions that helped to found the Labour party 103 years ago
risked expulsion last night after it voted to fund Ken Livingstone's
re-election campaign as mayor of London next year against Labour's official
candidate. The Aslef train drivers' union agreed to campaign for the former
Labour MP.

Labour's constitution bans individuals and affiliated organisations from
endorsing political rivals.

Mick Rix, Aslef general secretary and a member of the Labour party, said:
"We will do everything in our power to ensure that Ken is re-elected."

The open defiance by the unofficial convener of the left-wing awkward squad
of union leaders followed an overwhelming vote in favour of Mr Livingston at
Aslef's annual conference in Scarborough.

Mr Rix said funds, officials and rooms would be made available for a
high-profile figure who was expelled from Labour when he stood against
official candidate Frank Dobson in the 2000 election for mayor.

With other unions, including the RMT rail union and possibly Unison also
threatening to back Mr Livingstone next year, Labour's headquarters in Old
Queen Street will be left in a quandary over the direct challenge to its
authority.

Last night the party leadership backed away from confrontation. A party
spokesman said: "It's for Aslef to decide how its political fund is spent.
Trade unions are free to make their own decisions about their political
funds."

Aslef helped to create the Labour representation committee in 1900 and was
at the birth of the present Labour party in 1906.

Mr Rix said the union was a "firm but critical friend" and argued the case
for remaining within the party, although he said falling membership had made
it ripe for a "takeover" by leftwingers because New Labour was in retreat.

The Aslef general secretary said it would be unfair if his union was
expelled because it would be endorsing a pact between Mr Livingstone and
Labour's official candidate for London mayor, Nicky Gavron.

The pair have each asked supporters to cast second preference votes for the
other under the proportional representation system used in the capital.

Although Mr Livingstone was automatically excluded by Labour when he stood
against Mr Dobson in 2000, many of those who campaigned for him were not,
including Simon Fletcher, who acted as his agent and is now the mayor's
chief of staff.

Mr Livingstone has endeared himself to the unions by championing public
transport and trumping London Underground bosses last year by promising rail
unions a pay review at the Acas conciliation service when he takes control
of the tube network this summer.

Mr Livingstone said Aslef's decision to back him was unlikely to trigger a
breach with the Labour party.