Blair faces revolt over new Mayor

Tony Blair today faced a revolt from usually loyal Labour MPs demanding that there be no repeat of the last "botched attempt" to fix London's mayoral contest - and that Ken Livingstone be let back into the fold.

The Evening Standard can reveal that a strong contingent of MPs has privately warned Downing Street and party chairman Charles Clarke that they will revolt if there is any attempt to shoehorn in an official candidate to stand against Mr Livingstone.

A straw poll conducted secretly among London's Labour backbenchers has revealed that two-thirds either want him brought back into the party, or for no official opposition to stand against him. Several ministers are said to have quietly expressed the same view.

But alarm has spread in Westminster over rumours that Labour's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) intends to decide within the next fortnight to choose an official candidate other than Mr Livingstone.

The mayoral contest will not take place for another two years but Downing Street is said to be keen to find a contestant as soon as possible.

Three leading London MPs - Andrew Dismore, Karen Buck and Iain Coleman, have all expressed their disquiet over the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring.

Mr Dismore, MP for Hendon, said: "There is a great deal of emotion over this. The voters in last week's local elections were telling us we need to do more, and it's a warning that the mayoral election next time round is not going to be easy.

"What we are worried about is that the vote for the Left might get split between Ken and the Labour candidate, and a Tory like Steve Norris would go sailing through the middle and win."

He said that the support for Mr Livingstone was "by no means unanimous" but added: "There are many who feel that the leadership should be able to reach an accommodation with him."

Talks have been held between London MPs, Downing Street and Mr Clarke over the issue, following the enormous embarrassment caused to the party last time round when official candidate Frank Dobson suffered a crushing defeat, amid allegations that Millbank had attempted to fix the contest.

However, if Mr Livingstone carries through his threat to take the Government to court over its decision to rebuild the Tube through PPP, MPs acknowledge that it might make it hard for the leadership to strike a deal with him. One MP told the Standard: "What we are hearing is that Millbank wants to 'skip a generation', as they put it, and find a bright young candidate to stand against Ken.

"But no-one wants to be that stooge, because they know it's a completely thankless task." One name in the frame is that of David Lammy, the young Tottenham MP, who was said by the MP to be "running a mile from the job".

Karen Buck, chair of the London Labour group of MPs, said: "I would personally like to see Ken as the candidate this time around, although I fought for Frank Dobson in the last contest. But we do not want a hasty decision taken on this - we cannot afford to get it wrong this time. The party across the capital should be consulted, and a decision could be taken at some point in the summer."

There are concerns that a subcommittee of the NEC could decide to support proposals to select an official candidate. Part of their discussions will be about the overall selection procedure for the Mayor and also for the Greater London Authority.

But many are expecting the decision on the candidacy not to come until the London Labour conference in November. In an article in Tribune magazine, Mr Livngstone said yesterday that Labour is unable to take credit for many of the improvements being seen in the capital, such as extra police and cheaper bus fares, because of the mayoral fiasco of two years ago.