19/03/2009

Livingstone To Mount Bid For Return To Mayor Post

Former London Lord Mayor Ken Livingstone is to mount a bid to return to his old post in 2012, he has confirmed.

Mr Livingstone said he would run as an Independent nominee if Labour did not select him as a candidate. He added he would "love" to return to the job he held for eight years before being replaced by Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, who beat him by 139,772 votes in last year's mayoral election.

However, the 63-year-old former MP for Brent East has ruled out standing for Parliament again, in the hope of succeeding Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.

In an interview with Total Politics magazine, he said he would be too old, at 70, to be a viable candidate for PM in the 2015 General Election.

Mr Livingstone, who said he was "as certain as you can be, two-and-a-half years ahead" that he would run for election as mayor, added that he wanted to know more about Mr Johnson's campaign "than he does".

He also placed the blame on his defeat in last year's mayoral election on Labour's fading popularity nationally and on the campaigning of the Evening Standard newspaper, which he described as "cheerleaders" for his rival's campaign.

(JM/BMcC)

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