Fall man's fresh attack on Mayor

The saga of Ken Livingstone and the drunken party took a dramatic twist today after new allegations were made against the Mayor.

The man who fell 15 feet down a stairwell after a violent tussle with Mr Livingstone issued a new statement saying the Mayor was lying over his account. Another witness also came forward to rebut Mr Livingstone's claims about his behaviour.

The new details emerged as the Mayor prepared to announce whether he is going to appear before the London Assembly at an extraordinary meeting to publicly answer allegations that he was involved in a struggle with fellow guest Robin Hedges seconds before he fell.

The Mayor and his office were also accused of trying to cover up the incident - at the 40th birthday party of his pregnant girlfriend Emma Beal's sister - by claiming it was an accident.

The London Assembly has the power to refer him to the local government watchdog, the Standards Board of England. Evening Standards Board has the power to suspend him for a year or bar him from public office for a year.

Police are also investigating, and are today formally interviewing Mr Hedges. One of Mr Livingstone's key points is there was no cover-up and that it was Mr Hedges who asked him to put out a statement through his office saying it was a "simple accident."

However, today in a new signed statement Mr Hedges - an employee of the Evening Standard's ES magazine - said that was definitely not the case. He said: "I haven't spoken to Ken at all since the night of the party and never asked him or his office to handle the press on my behalf. It was the GLA who contacted me with regards to dealing with the press.

"Emma Beal first contacted [my friend] Steve Fletcher on 31 May after she had seen the Evening Standard story. She told him she was desperate to speak to me because the GLA wanted to put out a statement on my behalf that evening.

"Steve contacted me and I then rang Emma at the GLA. She said it was 'damage limitation on both sides' and put me under great pressure to agree to the statement they had already worded."

The statement issued by the Mayor's office saying the incident was an accident was repeated by the Mayor at the London Assembly last week.

Mr Livingstone also claimed Mr Hedges had gone to see a lawyer because he was concerned about his position at work, the implication being he was under great pressure from the Evening Standard.

Mr Hedges said he had gone to see a criminal lawyer concerning the incident and that the Standard had put no pressure on him to make a statement. He added: " The statement attributed to me which Ken quoted was untrue, and only agreed to by me under great duress. I told Emma Beal at the time that it was untrue, that I was very unhappy about it, and that I was only doing it for her." He said: "Ken Livingstone has suggested that he is the victim of a Right-wing smear campaign. I have no political affiliations and politics has played no part in my decision to say what really happened."

Meanwhile, Stuart Williams, an architect who lives next door to the scene of the party in Tufnell Park, said he could not believe Mr Livingstone had only drunk three glasses of wine, as the Mayor has claimed. Mr Williams, who watched the incident from a few yards away, is one of the key witnesses whose accounts contributed to the Standard's detailed investigation into the party 10 days ago.

He said: "I saw him say he'd only drunk three glasses of wine on TV. I have worked as an assistant pub manager and we would evict people much soberer than he was." Mr Williams said Mr Livingstone did leave the scene of the incident before police and ambulancemen arrived, despite Mr Hedges being unconscious at the time. Police and Ambulance logs have no record of Mr Livingstone being present when they arrived.

Talk about the claims