Livingstone 'could rejoin Labour'

Mr Livingstone was expelled for running as an independent in 2000

Ken Livingstone could be on the verge of being allowed back into the Labour Party, reports suggest.

The left-wing ex-MP was expelled for five years for running against Labour in the 2000 mayoral election.

BBC political editor Andrew Marr said Tony Blair wanted Mr Livingstone back inside Labour and had met with official party mayoral candidate Nicky Gavron.

But there were obstacles still be cleared and Ms Gavron has insisted she is still Labour's runner.

'Unity first'

On Thursday, she said: "There is no change in the situation. I am the Labour candidate for the mayoral candidate."

But she added to the rumours when she said: "Whatever happens at the end of these discussions, my guiding principle will be to act in the best interests of London and for the unity of the party."

A Labour spokesman denied reports that Mr Livingstone had been readmitted to Labour.

He said the matter would have to go through the party's National Executive Committee and that had not happened.

Mr Blair stoked the intense speculation over the move when he was asked at prime minister's questions on Wednesday who would make a better mayor, Mr Livingstone or Ms Gavron.

He replied: "I, of course, always support the Labour candidate".

'Good behaviour'

Mr Livingstone on Tuesday said the time was ripe for his return.

"I have done three years and with time off and good behaviour, it is about time," he said.

Mr Livingstone said he had not reapplied to the party, which rejected his application last year. Instead, he wanted to be invited back by Labour's ruling council.

"The legal opinion was that, were I to apply and be readmitted, this would establish a precedent for everyone else. I think the legal advice was they would have to decide whether or not to invite me," he added.

The move to embrace Mr Livingstone strongly contrasts with efforts by Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown to halt his mayoral campaign in 1999.

Resistance

Mr Blair branded Mr Livingstone a leading figure in "extremism" within Labour during the 1980s.

"Neil Kinnock, John Smith, me and the members of the Labour Party did not go through all the struggle and effort we did to create New Labour only to throw it all away and return to the disastrous politics of the early '80s," he said.

The move has been put down to fears that Ms Gavron, the official Labour candidate, could be pushed into fourth place in next year's elections.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Chancellor Gordon Brown are reportedly unreconciled to Mr Livingstone's return.

And former Labour leader Neil Kinnock is said to have threatened to tear up his party membership card if Mr Livingstone is allowed to return early.

Andrew Marr said that Mr Blair could find the mayor's popularity with Labour's rank-and-file useful and had noted the success of his congestion charging scheme.