The trouble with Ken

Nicky Gavron has spoken of her "complete exasperation" at Ken Livingstone's decision to depose her as deputy mayor and her concerns about the way he runs his administration.

She said the Mayor had infuriated her on a number of occasions, most notably his "pretty perverse" decision to take the Government to court over the part-privatisation of the Tube despite the fact that "he didn't have a good case".

And she criticised his "poor judgment" at dropping her in the run-up to next year's mayoral elections, which she said risks bringing City Hall to a halt with political in-fighting as he may no longer be able to count on the support of her fellow Labour Assembly members.

We revealed yesterday that Mr Livingstone had decided to replace Ms Gavron in July as his Labour deputy with Jenny Jones, a Green member of the London Assembly, for the final year of his four-year term. The decision is controversial as it places the Mayor's relationship with his Labour supporters - inside and outside City Hall - in jeopardy as he begins to gather backing for his re-election campaign.

Though he had vowed to rotate the position annually between the parties, he kept Ms Gavron as his deputy when the Liberal Democrats refused to accept the post and he declined to offer it to the Conservatives.

But now he finds himself under fire from Lord Harris, the Labour leader on the London Assembly, and key trade unions such as Aslef, the TGWU and UCATT. Lord Harris said it was a "poor" decision which questioned the Mayor's commitment to following a Labour agenda. Aslef general secretary Mick Rix said it was regrettable, adding: "I hope that Ken will reconsider."

Ms Gavron, the millionaire Labour candidate for next year's mayoral elections, revealed last night that she had had a heated exchange with the Mayor after demanding to know whether he would allow her to keep her prized post for a fourth year.

"I had very frank discussions with Ken," she said. "I told him what I thought and he told me why he was doing it. I said it didn't stack up. I'm not sure if many of the people around him, if any, think what he's doing is a good move.

"I'm completely exasperated with him - above all, because I wanted to get the job for Londoners done. I can't understand what he's up to. I don't think it's personal. It doesn't add up, except politically. He certainly seems to be courting the Green vote." She said his decision was "ridiculous" as the Greens were opposed to top policies, such as the bid to bring the 2012 Olympics to the capital and the plan to build a new Thames bridge in east London.

She also told of her frustration with the Mayor as she tried to get him readmitted to the Labour party. He had been expelled after standing as an independent candidate in the 2000 mayoral elections against official Labour candidate Frank Dobson.

Last summer Ms Gavron said she was working behind the scenes to have him readmitted - only for Mr Livingstone to scupper his chances by persevering with a weak court challenge to the Government's PPP sell-off plans for the Tube. In the end the Mayor lost the court case, leaving council taxpayers with a £3 million legal bill. He also lost his bid to rejoin the party. I did think taking the Government to court over PPP, in light of that decision [on whether to readmit him], was pretty perverse," Ms Gavron said. "That is the kind of thing that exasperates me.

"Last summer it was a done deal [over the Tube]. Ken walked away from that and decided to take the Government to court. He didn't have a good case. He was going to appeal to the European Court. That was where I did intervene."

But she said there were many positive aspects of her three years as his second in command, describing it as a "very constructive relationship" in the main. She said her job had been "behind the scenes, between the lines" as she promoted the London Plan - the planning blueprint for the capital, which she claims credit for writing - and persuaded him to implement the congestion charge in the face of dire warnings from transport advisers.

"I have been absolutely behind most of the policies as I have given him most of them," she said. They "hardly" knew each other before the 2000 election but developed a growing relationship of trust, which Mr Livingstone only breached once when he went public on a policy announcement on the environment without telling her.

"It's absolute rubbish that I was his confidante, absolute rubbish," she said.

She saw her post as "one of enormous influence but not high profile". She admitted, however, that Mr Livingstone had become embroiled in some "time-wasting confrontations", particularly with Conservativerun London boroughs.

"There are a number of initiatives that are not working as well as they should because the alliances and partnerships are not there," she said.

Ms Gavron was coy about her own mayoral campaign, but said she would look to target women voters and address concerns about safety on public transport and the state of the street environment. She also hoped that she would be able to develop closer links with Government. "I'm running against Ken and I'm running to win."

Mr Livingstone said last night: "I gave a firm commitment in the Mayoral election to rotate the deputy mayor position. Nicky Gavron has been an excellent deputy mayor and I look forward to working with her in the future on our common agenda for London."