Campaign to unseat Ken begins

Labour's bitter campaign to oust Ken Livingstone from power in London begins tonight when the party unveils its would-be Mayors.

With hours to go before the 5pm deadline for nominations, the contest to become the party's official mayoral candidate in 2004 is likely to be a three-way race.

Former Sports Minister Tony Banks, deputy mayor Nicky Gavron and former Harrow council leader Bob Shannon were the only names known, although there were rumours of at least one dark horse.

Most observers expected it to finish in a head-to-head between Mr Banks, once one of Mr Livingstone'sclosest allies on the old Greater London Council, and Ms Gavron, the Mayor's friendly deputy.

Although Labour faces a political struggle to unseat Mr Livingstone, the prospect has become tantalisingly closer with indications his £5 congestion charge will infuriate voters.

But despite the political prize at stake, Labour did not appear to be taking its selection contest too seriously today. There are no special-events or hustings pencilled on the calendar for Labour's annual party conference, which starts in Blackpool on 29 September, even though London members constitute an eighth of the entire party.

That leaves the candidates to arrange fringe meetings of their own if they want to raise their profile among members.

No date has been set for candidates to be vetted by a meeting of the special selection board, supposedly due within days.

"It will meet at some time next week but we haven't yet checked the diaries of the candidates to see when they are free," admitted an official.

Ballot papers will be sent out on 4 October and must be returned by the end of the month. But no date has been fixed for when the result will be announced.

Mr Livingstone had hoped to run under Labour's colours himself, but his application to rejoin the party was rejected in July. Senior figures, including John Prescott and Charles Clarke, decided he could not be trusted and set themselves the task of defeating him instead.

The risks for Labour of another humiliating rout at Mr Livingstone's hands are so great, however, that Toby Harris, the party's leader on the London Assembly, has suggested that it would be safer not to run a candidate at all. Those fears were given weight by yesterday's poll in the Evening Standard which revealed that the two front-runners, Mr Banks and Ms Gavron, command little public recognition and even less support.

Mr Banks, who was backed by only 22 per cent of voters, would come a poor third behind the Conservativesif he ran, the survey showed. Ms Gavron would limp into fourth place.

Today, all three of the known candidates write exclusively in the Evening Standard setting out why they think they should be elected Mayor - and why they think that they could beat Mr Livingstone after all.