David Lammy, who was considering running for the Labour nomination for London Mayor in 2012, is instead to chair Ken Livingstone’s Mayoral campaign.

He makes the case for Ken in today’s Guardian, acknowledging that he considered whether to enter the race himself.

Lammy has also nominated Diane Abbott for Labour leader – in the interests of the contest. But I would guess he will vote for David Miliband, which may perhaps disappoint those who may have begun to detect the seeds of the sharpest swing leftwards from a New Labour position since the young technocratic minister Anthony Wedgewood Benn became plain Tony, tribune of the left.

Former Bethnal Green MP Oona King is also seeking the nomination. It is unclear whether anybody else will join the race, though many other candidates have been mooted – including Alan Johnson, Jon Cruddas and James Purnell, as well as the rather more fantastical prospect of Lord Mandelson seeking to tread in his grandfather’s LCC footsteps.

The Standard’s Paul Waugh tweets:

DLammy will chair Red Ken’s campaign 4 Lab mayoral candidate. Not an fan of Oona King, clearly. Cd help his own 2016 chances tho

Lammy’s challenge on the Livingstone campaign – in the party and in the 2012 race if Livingstone does prevail – will be to prove wrong those who believe Labour could play into Tory hands by re-running the 2008 race.

I suspect that the nomination timetable – running concurrently with the Labour Party leadership contest could seriously reduce further the chances of any candidate successfully challenging the favourite Livingstone, who will expect to poll particularly strongly in the affiliates section of the electoral college. Had the race begun after the party conference this Autumn, there would have been a great deal more attention paid to the nomination race by party members and supporters in London.

As much as a third of the Labour party’s national membership is in London, but the Mayoral nomination race now risks being very much be a second-order contest. There will be fewer events and hustings, much less media coverage and less focus from party members than would have been the case if the two races were not taking place at the same time. (And it may well be that Labour may now find it more difficult fully maximise the opportunity to use the Mayoral nomination as a second focus for a recruitment drive, and particularly to connect with new citizens’ movements in the capital).

It would take quite a conspiracy theorist to suggest that the Labour NEC had sought to atone for its sins of the 2000 nomination process by this time stitching this thing up for Ken Livingstone.

But I suspect that a much more prosaic reason – the adminstrative cost of balloting the members separately, given the parlous state of Labour’s finances – might well have helped to achieve much the same pro-Ken outcome.

About the author
Sunder Katwala is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He is the director of British Future, a think-tank addressing identity and integration, migration and opportunity. He was formerly secretary-general of the Fabian Society.
· Other posts by Sunder Katwala


Story Filed Under: Blog ,Labour party ,London Mayor ,Westminster

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1. Liberal Conspiracy

   Is Labour stitching it up for Ken Livingstone this time? http://bit.ly/9gZ5yU

2. Frances Roberson

   We can't have Ken back; Boris has proved to be fab-Is Labour stitching it up for Ken Livingstone this time? http://bit.ly/9gZ5yU via @libcon

3. Naadir Jeewa

   Reading: Is Labour stitching it up for Ken Livingstone this time?: David Lammy, who was considering running for th… http://bit.ly/aidLsD

4. David Lammy’s backing for Ken is a double-edged sword | Liberal Conspiracy

   […] Sunny Hundal     June 4, 2010 at 9:30 am On Tuesday former cabinet minister David Lammy announced he was going to chair Ken Livingstone’s Mayoral […]

5. Ben Cooper

   Interesting read: Is Labour stitching it up for Ken Livingstone this time? http://bit.ly/9gZ5yU why nothing on @UKLabour's website?

6. Joel Braunold

   With eyes fixed on the leadership election we need to make sure the mayoral primary is not stitched up http://bit.ly/aPHxgD #oona4mayor

7. Gavin Lambert

   Is Labour Stitching it up for Ken Livingstone? – http://bit.ly/aPHxgD

8. Ben Cooper

   RT @wesstreeting: This @libcon article is worrying reading for this London Labour member: http://bit.ly/aPHxgD

9. No 2 Ken

   RT @chaplindavid: Interesting article here, is Labour stiching it up for Ken Livingstone? Erm, yes! http://alturl.com/6efx

10. Wes Streeting

    This @libcon article is worrying reading for this London Labour member: http://bit.ly/aPHxgD

11. Richard Angell

    Is Labour stitching it up for Ken Livingstone this time? by @NextLeft http://bit.ly/aPHxgD

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