ConservativeHome's London Mayor blog

Livingstone formally reselected as Labour candidate

Tony Blair joked at PMQs yesterday that at least Labour's candidate would be a supporter of the Labour Party. I don't know the extent to which Red Ken still feels like a Labour man but was predictably reselected this lunchtime nonetheless. Labour has also now confirmed that its seven sitting London Assembly Members will all be restanding. Ken and they are said to have had "overwhelming" backing from the dwindling band of Labour Party members in London.

Livingstone said it was a straight fight between him and the Tories, but also urged voters to vote anyone but the BNP. Highlights of his comments are below. Click here for a reminder of his time in office so far.

Deputy Editor

Nick Boles is early frontrunner amongst declared candidates

This poll needs to be treated cautiously as it represents the views of only 414 London Tories but these are the answers that were given to the recent questions on the Mayoral race that were included in the April survey of the ConservativeHome Members' Panel.

OPINIONS ON THE GREG DYKE AFFAIR

• Greg Dyke is clearly not a Conservative and David Cameron was wrong to approach him to be our candidate: 56.8%
• The Dyke affair seriously undermines all of the individuals who have announced that they want to be Conservative candidate for London Mayor: 40.6%
• Only a different kind of candidate will defeat Ken Livingstone and the Dyke experiment would have been worthwhile: 28.8%
• David Cameron will make any deal and dilute any policy in order to win office and stay in office: 20.3%
• Coalitions are the future of politics and Conservatives need to be ready to work with Liberal Democrats and other parties: 9.2%

WHAT KIND OF PERSON WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE BECOME THE CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE FOR LONDON MAYOR?

• Someone with a proven record of commitment to Conservative politics in London: 54.1%
• A joint candidate with the Liberal Democrats: 1.9%
• A popular non-political figure in London such as a radio personality or community leader: 24.4%

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING DECLARED CANDIDATES WOULD YOU MOST SUPPORT AS LONDON MAYOR?*

1. None of them: 28.4%
2. Nick Boles: 22.9%
3. Don’t know: 21.4%
4. Andrew Boff: 9.6%
5. Victoria Borwick: 5.5%
6. Lee Rotherham: 5.2%
7. Richard Barnes: 4.4%
8. Simon Fawthrop: 3.3%
9. Warwick Lightfoot: 2.6%
10. Lurline Champagnie: 1.8%
11. Winston McKenzie: 0.7%

* A programming error meant that people were able to select more than one candidate in this question and a few did. The total therefore comes to 105.8%.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING UNDECLARED CANDIDATES WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO SEE BECOME THE CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE FOR LONDON MAYOR?

1. Seb Coe: 23.8%
2. John Major: 22%
3. John Stevens: 13.2%
4. Steve Norris: 12.5%
5. None of the above: 11.7%
6. Nick Ferrari: 5.5%