Will the old firm be fighting it out in 2012?
Could Ken be Labour candidate once again?
What are we to make of the stream of little reports that suggest that Ken Livingston might be manoeuvring to be Labour’s candidate for the London mayoralty in 2012?
The Standard’s Paul Waugh has blogged about Labour’s decision to appoint one of Ken’s key aides to the big post of running the party’s London campaigns and wondered whether a return might be in the offing. So should you be risking your money on Mayor Ken 2012?
He has shown time and time again that he is the supreme politician when it comes to dealing with his party’s structures.
It will be recalled that he was first elected in 2000 as an independent and then managed to get himself back into the party so he could be the official candidate four years later. The fact that Gordon Brown was opposed and someone else had already been selected was seen as nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
If Ken wants it then he’s going to be a formidable figure to challenge. He’s one of those politicians who transcend traditional party loyalties and in each of his three mayoral elections he’s won votes from right across the spectrum
The election is only two and a half years away and I’ve just had a small flutter at 14/1 with William Hill that Ken will once again return to City Hall.
Ladbrokes is offering.
Assuming that the Tories do form the next government then the election will take place about two years in when you can see things being very challenging. And wow – what a boost to Labour it would be if Ken returned.