Livingstone welcomes Blair backing for mayor

Ken Livingstone today welcomed support he has received from former adversaries Tony Blair and Alistair Campbell in his fight to retain the London mayoralty.

It was revealed today that the New Labour big beasts, who both battled against Mr Livingstone’s initial election in 2000, have given advice to his team on how to beat the Conservatives’ Boris Johnson in what is shaping up to be a neck-and-neck race.

Labour sources stressed that Mr Blair and his former communications chief were involved only on an informal basis and were not taking up official roles in Mr Livingstone’s team.

But the mayor, who last month joked that his proudest achievement was to have “ground the New Labour machine into the dust” when he ran as an independent in 2000, made clear he was happy to receive help from them.

“Anyone that wants to see Labour going forward and is supporting me is welcome,” he said.

With just a week to go to the May 1 polling day, Mr Livingstone today issued a warning to Londoners not to pick their choice for mayor on the basis of “personality” and claimed that Mr Johnson did not have the competence to run the capital city.

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, was highlighting his crime policies with a visit to a south London police station and the launch, alongside Tory leader David Cameron, of “crime mapping” proposals designed to give voters detailed information about offences in their neighbourhoods.

The involvement of Mr Blair and Mr Campbell in Labour’s mayoral campaign is an indication of how important victory in London is to the party, which fears defeat could add momentum to Mr Cameron’s push to unseat Gordon Brown in the next General Election.

Polling suggests that Mr Johnson presents the biggest challenge to Mr Livingstone’s position since the role of mayor was created, but Mr Blair is said to have told the Labour team that the election remains winnable.

Mr Livingstone’s election co-ordinator Tessa Jowell told The Guardian that advice had been sought from them, as well as Mr Blair’s former polling guru Philip Gould, because they were “the best in the business”.

“All that is a measure of how everybody who has been part of New Labour wants to see it go forward and wants to see Ken win in London,” she said.

A Labour source said: “The whole of the Labour Party is supporting Ken and offering him help.”