She went on: “It is in effect a three week long campaign and some of us do think that’s been engineered and the danger is there won’t be a real debate.
“I think the Labour party supporters in London will be unhappy if they don’t think they’ll be allowed a proper debate and the opportunity to see and hear from all the candidates.”
It comes as Sadiq Khan, another potential mayoral candidate, lashed out colleagues he said are “distracted” by the mayoral race, instead of concentrating on Labour’s General Election campaign.
Mr Khan is yet to say whether he wants to run for mayor or not. Ms Abbott has declared, along with Dame Tessa Jowell, David Lammy MP and Christian Wolmar.
