Ghost of London past haunts Blair

By Anne McHardy

Herald correspondent

LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has pushed his Health Secretary into contesting the newly created job of Mayor of London, in a frantic attempt to stop a left-winger from snatching the prize job.

Health Secretary Frank Dobson, who has the rare distinction in the Blair cabinet of having been a minister in the last Labour Government, in 1979, had appeared determined to refuse the difficult fight against Ken Livingstone. Before Dobson's declaration, Livingstone was odds-on to top the selection poll of London Labour voters.

Labour is under pressure to start a selection process after last week's naming of best-selling novelist Lord Archer as the Conservative choice to contest the election. On May 4 next year London will vote for a democratically elected local assembly for the first time since Margaret Thatcher axed the Greater London Council 13 years ago.

Labour had been delaying setting up its selection process because opinion soundings showed that none of the candidates already in the ring could come near to touching Livingstone's standing with Londoners. Blair, who has spent five years purging Labour of left-wingers, dislikes "Red Ken" as much as Thatcher did.

However, Livingston's popularity with Londoners has risen steadily. The absence of coordinated planning since the council's demise has seen deteriorating roads, schools, hospitals and waste collection services. As an example, there was rush-hour chaos last week because of metal fatigue on escalators in 20 Underground stations.

The last serious attempts to properly maintain the capital's infrastructure were made under Livingstone in the days of the council.

The London Labour Party has now said the selection process will be in place next week and voting will take place in December.

Dobson has some credibility as a candidate for mayor, since he lives in London, sits at Westminster for a London constituency and sent his three children to local schools, but his roots are in the north of England. Whether he can match Livingstone's standing has yet to be seen.

Early straw polls suggest Livingstone could still have the edge. Against Dobson is his failure to stop the virtual closure of London's oldest and arguably most famous hospital, St Bartholomew's, and his failure to stop the serious decline in health standards in the city since he became Health Secretary two years ago.

There is also a suspicion that Blair wanted him to stand for mayor not just because he might rival Livingstone but also because the Health Secretary, despite his declared party loyalty, is not without his private doubts about the virtues of the Blairite New Labour Party.

In private Dobson, a man with a sharp tongue and ready wit, cracks endless jokes about New Labour and its liking for making sure MPs sing from matching hymn sheets. An old-fashioned atheist and socialist at heart, he was highly suspicious of his new leader's born-again Anglicanism when Blair was first elected party leader. He had several early run-ins as Health Minister with the public relations machine operated by Blair's close associates.

Figures from last year's local election results in London suggest Labour's mayoral candidate, with a clear field, will win. Livingstone, who hand-on-heart declares himself a loyal Labour Party member, insists he will not stand as an independent if Blair does block him, but the Prime Minister's nightmare has to be Livingstone either winning as an independent or splitting the Labour vote and letting in a Conservative mayor.

London Labour Party members have been promised a democratic poll such as Lord Archer won, and had expected to be polled about now. However the party has yet to decide even a form for nominations.

Blair has tried both to block Livingstone and to boost his rivals, who include actress Glenda Jackson. She has failed to turn her screen popularity to political strength. None can touch Livingstone, MP for one of London's toughest constituencies, for popularity.

Lord Archer, a many-times millionaire, has campaigned assiduously for two years for his nomination. Despite predictions that his rival, Stephen Norris, was closing the gap to stand as candidate, his was a clear victory.

The contest left some bemused that the two Conservative hopefuls to lead London should be such oddballs.

Lord Archer, whose recent share dealings have been called into question, is notorious for a court libel action over allegations that he had used a prostitute. Most have forgotten that he won the case.

Norris, an erstwhile Transport Minister, openly maintains a wife and a mistress, both with large families.

The mayor's powers will not be finalised until the London bill becomes law next month, but the city will have a police authority for the first time.

Previously, unlike the rest of Britain, London's police authority has been the Home Office. This has created tensions, particularly in cases such as the inquiry this year into the mishandling by the Metropolitan Police of the murder of a black student, Stephen Lawrence, who was beaten to death in a racist attack by white youths.

Playing adjudicator in inevitable future cases in a city plagued by increasing tensions as the gap between rich and poor widens and the social mixes becomes more diverse will test the popularity even of the most charismatic of mayors.