Police keep open mind over Mayor

Police said today that they were still keeping an open mind over the investigation into Ken Livingstone's role in the drunken party incident which left a man seriously injured.

They are keeping an open file on what happened at the north London party on 18/19 May and say they are prepared to take statements from other witnesses if they come forward.

The news comes the day after detectives re-interviewed Robin Hedges, who suffered head, back and hip injuries when he fell 15ft into a basement stairwell at the party.

Mr Hedges, 35, an art editor at ES magazine, has always said he was not keen to press criminal charges over the incident. He insisted he only wanted to tell the truth about what happened.

Since the accident he has had to undergo physiotherapy and brain scans, and remains off work.

A friend of his told the Evening Standard today: "All Robin ever wanted to do was tell the truth and he has done that."

The news comes as Mr Livingstone prepares to battle to save his political career. He will face an extraordinary meeting of the London Assembly to attempt to refute allegations that he was involved in a drunken tussle at the birthday party and used his staff to cover up the truth.

He has been working on two speeches to try to convince members of the Assembly of his innocence in the affair.

The first, which is expected to run to 15 minutes, concerns his defence over allegations about his conduct from eyewitnesses printed in the Evening Standard last week.

The second, shorter speech, is believed to deal with the issue of his GLA staff 's involvement with the incident following the 40th birthday party of Kate Beal, sister of his girlfriend Emma Beal.

He will attempt to use this as a response to Assembly members' concerns that GLA facilities, paid for by the taxpayer, are being used by the Mayor.

One Assembly colleague said: "His last speech to the Assembly when he denied the Standard's story lasted just three minutes. Tomorrow we believe Ken is going to speak for up to quarter of an hour about his role at the party, and then make another speech, probably about his use of GLA facilities in the affair."

The Assembly, which cannot compel the Mayor to attend, invited him to tomorrow's meeting last week, and Mr Livingstone accepted the invitation last night in a one-line letter to chairman Trevor Phillips.

The Assembly has the power to refer Mr Livingstone to the local government watchdog, the Standards Board of England, which could in turn suspend him for a year or bar him from public office for five years.

The Mayor's defence, scheduled for 10am tomorrow, comes a week after he spoke to the Assembly about the party for the first time. After the Evening Standard broke the story about the incident involving Mr Hedges, Mr Livingstone went on record to deny it.

Speaking publicly to the London Assembly last Wednesday, he leant heavily on the unsigned statement his office issued on Mr Hedges's behalf, which said it was a "simple accident" and involved no one else. Since then Mr Hedges has come forward to say he was pressurised by the Mayor's office at the GLA into making the statement. He also said he actually fell following a violent tussle with Mr Livingstone, who was angry with his girlfriend for smoking.