Mayor would dearly love backing

The Mayor could not have been clearer, or more nonchalant. "I will be seeking a second term," he said three months ago. "Whether I am the Labour candidate or not is a matter for the Labour Party."

The view from Romney House seems very different today as Mr Livingstone submits his formal application to re-join the party he castigated and then trounced two years ago.

Sentimentality does play a role in his decision to seek re-admission. He is unused to the unique isolation of being outside the party he once had pretensions to lead. His close circle of advisers feel even colder in exile. When he decided last month to take the Government to court for a second time over PPP, many of his followers were set against the idea because they feared losing the case and their last chance of re-admission.

But sentiment is only part of the story. The Mayor has reached the point where an official endorsement from Labour would be useful because two years into his mayoralty, nothing seems assured.

He knows his friends are few. He lovebombed the Green Party soon after his election but they now accuse him of being in hock to big business. The Liberal Democrats say he is all mouth and no action. He and Tories share a mutual loathing but that's no surprise.

He also knows his achievements are slight. The PPP battle was heroically fought but will - in all probability - be lost. The congestion charge remains his one big opportunity to make his mark but the forces ranged against it grow by the day.

Yesterday Mr Livingstone was happy to be dubbed the "bus mayor", for one of his few clear-cut achievements has been to increase the number of people using buses. But that hardly places him on par with Rudolph Giuliani, the hero Mayor of New York.

The Mayor is 57 and looking forward to fatherhood. But he wants his place in history and a second term. The clout of the London Labour Party - with its money and volunteers - could help him get it. There is a twist to all of this because those who watch him closely realise that if he is not re-admitted to the party, he could turn that to his advantage too. He would once again portray himself as the underdog standing up against the Millbank bullies.

It is possible that he may regain his membership card after Labour's national executive committee discusses the issue on 23 July, but it seems unlikely. He has his supporters - in the London party and in the Commons. But many others have reserved a place in Hell for the Mayor, and will kick up a storm if he is imposed upon them.

His strongest argument will be that he is a winning brand who could win the mayoralty for Labour in 2004, when the Government is mid-term and will probably be at its most unpopular.

We know Labour desperately wants to run the tier of Government it created. What is unknown is the extent to which it is prepared to eat humble pie from Mr Livingstone's spoon.