[A-List] UK state: London mayoral election

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

Livingstone's flattery seen as political ploy

Sarah Hall, political correspondent
Thursday September 25, 2003
The Guardian

Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, yesterday predicted that a Liberal Democrat
surge in the capital's mayoral election next year could turn the Tories into
a minority party.

The move raised eyebrows among Lib Dem strategists, who believe he is trying
to scare the Tories into action to minimise the Lib Dem vote in London.

Mr Livingstone, a former Labour MP, talked up the chances of the Lib Dem
candidate, Simon Hughes, while indicating that the Tory former transport
minister, Steve Norris, had already ruled himself out of the London race by
opposing congestion charges.

And in a swipe that will not endear him to the Labour party, Mr Livingstone
accused the Lib Dems of having adopted the dirty tricks of Peter Mandelson
during their campaign in the Brent East byelection. Their leaflets in the
byelection had contained no policies, but instead concentrated on attacking
the Labour government and local council, he said. Such tactics had led Lib
Dem parliamentarians to write to him in dismay.

"It was everything I found unacceptable about the Millbank approach to
electioneering that was used against me by the Labour party," Mr Livingstone
said. "Look where the Labour party is today. It hasn't actually won hearts
and minds. These tactics may win you power, but they don't give you the
power that you need to ensure support for progressive politics."

Addressing a packed fringe meeting at the party's conference in Brighton, he
predicted that in the wake of last week's byelection, in which the Lib Dems
jumped from third to first place to overtake a 13,000 Labour majority, the
London mayoral election could be a tipping point for the Tories.

"The election next year will be very interesting. Let's not underestimate
this. This is going to be a massive test of opinion across 74
constituencies. Whoever becomes mayor, if the Liberal Democrats can,
London-wide, overtake the Tories as they did in Brent East, I think you can
go into the next election in a situation where the Conservative party is
pushed into minority party status," Mr Livingstone told an audience of 400.

If Mr Norris were to lose to Mr Hughes, it would be a blow "from which I
don't think the Tory party can recover", he said. It would "transform
politics".

While Mr Livingstone's comments could be seen at face value as flattering
the Lib Dems, who greeted him with a mixture of polite applause and loud
booing, they may be designed to bolster his own chances.

Lord Rennard, the Lib Dem election guru who has masterminded a succession of
byelection successes, said it was a ploy designed to scare the Tories out of
complacency. Under the mayoral election system, two candidates enter the
final round: if these were Mr Livingstone and Mr Norris, the incumbent
mayor's success would be more assured than it would be against the Lib Dem
candidate.

"Ken is trying to avoid the situation arising of us overtaking Steve Norris.
He's trying to stimulate the conservatives to vote, to try and squeeze out
Simon," the campaigns director said.

Mr Hughes, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, added: "All the information I
have is that Ken believes we are the only people who can beat him. All the
polling shows I'm the only person who has ever been ahead of him."