Lib-Dems call in watchdog over Ken

Ken Livingstone is to face a high-powered investigation into his behaviour after a partygoer fell over a wall during a scuffle.

Evening Standards Board for England will conduct the inquiry - which could see the Mayor suspended or barred from office.

London Assembly Liberal Democrat leader Lord Tope called in the watchdog yesterday following a series of revelations in the Evening Standard about Mr Livingstone's conduct at a birthday party in Tufnell Park in May.

Witnesses said the Mayor was involved in the fall which led to injuries suffered by Robin Hedges, 35, an art editor on the Evening Standard's ES Magazine, who fell 15 feet down a stairwell after a tussle with Mr Livingstone. Mr Hedges suffered head injuries and needed a brain scan.

The Mayor denies he was responsible but he admits having scuffled earlier with Mr Hedges on the pavement after drinking three glasses of wine. He denies eyewitness reports that he manhandled his pregnant girlfriend Emma Beal because he thought she had been smoking and that he left the scene prematurely.

But Mr Livingstone is also accused of being abusive to others at the birthday party, thrown by Miss Beal's sister Kate. His staff are said to have pressured Mr Hedges into making an initial statement exonerating him.

Mr Livingstone helped to draw up that statement which has since been retracted by the victim. The Mayor also faces allegations that GLA staff - paid for by the taxpayer - were inappropriately used to defend him from these personal accusations.

Mr Livingstone has made two lengthy statements to the London Assembly in a bid to head off the row and today he criticised Lord Tope for involving the watchdog. "Lord Tope's decision is almost certainly an abuse of the Standards Board, which was set up to deal with matters such as corruption and gerrymandering," he said.

"Londoners have elected me to get on with such vital matters as sorting out the transport system, recruiting more police and securing more affordable housing, all of which are my overwhelming priorities. Lord Tope's action simply threatens to divert time and energy from dealing with the real issues."

However Lord Tope said there must be an investigation so the GLA can put the affair behind it. "I have made a formal request to the Standards Board to investigate the Mayor's behaviour at the party because his actions may have brought the GLA into disrepute and furthermore his action may be contrary to the GLA's Code of Conduct if the evidence the Evening Standard claims to have is true.

"I believe only by having the Board investigate this matter can the question of who is telling the truth be solved. Until this is done, London's government will remain under a cloud and issues that really matter to Londoners will not be debated and discussed in public."

The Liberal decision to refer the matter to the Standards Board surprised many. Some Assembly members publicly declared themselves satisfied with the Mayor's explanation last Wednesday and resolved to let the matter rest. But the Liberal Democrats were most openly sceptical and told the Mayor he must take some form of action if he professed to be innocent.

The referral will be a bitter disappointment to the Mayor, who hoped to have drawn a line under the affair. Having denounced the Evening Standard and its editor, he said he had no plans to take the matter further and would leave his fate to the judgement of Londoners. But this left him in a difficult position, for he was seen to be denouncing the story as untrue but at the same time refusing to take any meaningful action.

While Lord Tope accepted that the Mayor had no personal wish to prolong the controversy, he said Mr Livingstone was duty bound to protect the office and its public standing.