Heavyweights set to keep Ken out

Labour's leadership is on course to turn down Ken Livingstone's plea to rejoin the party from which he exiled himself two years ago.

Although Labour MPs are split over the issue, a trio of enemies at the top - John Prescott, Gordon Brown and party chairman Charles Clarke - remain deeply hostile to him.

Mr Livingstone was banned from the party for five years after he stood as an Independent against the official Labour candidate, Frank Dobson, in the first mayoral election.

Barring a last moment change of heart, the party's ruling National Executive Committee, when it meets on 23 July, will launch the process to pick Labour's candidate for the next mayoral contest in 2004 - excluding the present Mayor.

Labour's London MPs at a private meeting last week were said to have split 55 per cent to 45 per cent in favour of letting Mr Livingstone back. Six of the party's nine London Assembly members, including the group's leader, Toby Harris have signed a letter in support of his bid.

The backing from most of the MPs appears to come not from any love for Mr Livingstone but because they fear the party will be unable to find a candidate to beat him. Several are saying that to pick a second-rate rival would only open the way for another win for Mr Livingstone and humiliation for the leadership, or split the vote to allow the Tories through the middle.

Those arguments show no sign of swaying Labour's high command.

The Deputy Prime Minister accused Mr Livingstone of lying. Although he added that he would be "fair" over the Mayor's appeal for readmission, it was hard to see how his words would allow a peace settlement.

The Chancellor's long-standing hostility to the Mayor has been deepened by the row over the PPP plan for the London Underground. And Mr Clarke, an increasingly influential figure at the top of the party, has bitter memories of battles between "Red Ken" and Labour's then leader, Neil Kinnock.

The position of Tony Blair is less certain. His aides claim that he once offered Mr Livingstone a ministerial job, although the Mayor himself has denied it. Mr Blair, however, would be most unlikely to resist a concerted stand by Mr Prescott and Mr Brown.

The leadership originally planned to set the machinery for choosing a candidate in motion at last month's meeting of the executive. But the members were unable to agree on a procedure which would avoid a repeat of the fiasco last time when the party was accused of rigging its electoral college to block Mr Livingstone.

Another problem is a shortage of candidates. The only figure to appear on the horizon so far is the chairman of the London Assembly, Trevor Phillips.