The return of Ken

News just in - as expected Ken Livingstone has been selected as Labour's Mayoral candidate for 2012. It was clear that he would win against the hapless Oona King, despite the efforts of New Labour figures in the party to block Ken. Already written off by the Evening Standard as a hopeless over the hill loser, I expect that Ken will give Boris a run for his money and I would expect him to win. By 2012 'the winter of discontent' will seem like a tea party. Unemployment will be raging, cuts will have bitten hard and there will still be no sign of the economic miracle predicted by the Coalition - witness similar developments in Ireland and they are further down the road.

Ken made mistakes and was overtaken by hubris in the last years of his mayoralty, but he is still capable of putting forward real and radical policies and has shown many times that he still has popular support. Many of the ideas he supported in the 80s are now considered mainstream. But he must move away from the cronyism and inner cabals with Socialist Alliance which bedevilled his last regime and also concentrate on both equality and environmental issues.

I saw him speak at the Green Party conference a year or two ago and it was clear that he was keen on working with the Greens. Obviously the Greens in London have to see any election manifesto which Ken and the Labour Party produce before there can be any consideration of second preference votes. But with Oona King there would have been very little chance of any such consideration. I know of several friends who are going to be campaigning for Ken. Also the Coalition of Resistance are going to approach Ken to see if he and his campaign will sign up to the Coalition's demands. I certainly hope that he will. Fighting the cuts and protecting Londoners pensioners and others, will clearly be a large part of Ken's campaign. But distancing himself from the City and large scale anti-environmental projects, which were a feature of his last term in office, must be a central feature of any new campaign.