The enmity between Gordon Brown and Ken Livingstone is longstanding. In Tom Bower's biography of the PM, there are almost as many references in the index to Livingstone as there are to Neil Kinnock. Major disagreements have included independence of the Bank of England, PPP for the tube, public spending levels in the late 1990s and so on. In 2000, Brown even penned a full-page article in the Evening Standard (19/1/2000 - not available online) urging London Labour members to back Frank Dobson, predicting "disaster" if Livingstone were elected. I recall that at that time Blair set himself a priority that Livingstone should not be a "Labour Mayor" - but Brown went one stage further, urging Livingstone not to be elected at all.
Livingstone is now mired in sleaze allegations, and Brown's first big election as Labour Leader is only 3 months away. At the weekend, Brown had little choice when asked by the press to back Livingstone, but could only bring himself to talk about Livingstone as "he".
Yesterday, at PMQs, I asked Brown about corruption at the LDA and whether the PM would support calls for an independent inquiry into the role of Livingstone. Again, Brown couldn't bring himself to name him, concluding weakly that "we need a Labour Mayor."
A strange world when a Party Leader can't bring himself to name his leading candidate. I think the last time this happened was in the Bermondsey by-election in 1983, when Michael Foot avoided endorsing Peter Tatchell. The omens aren't good for Labour here.
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