'Red Ken' upsets Labour applecart

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, MAY 5. Britain's ruling Labour party faced its worst day in politics since coming to power nearly three years ago with voters snubbing its candidate for the post of Mayor of London.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, faced humiliation as the party rebel and independent candidate, Mr. Ken Livingstone defeated Mr. Frank Dobson, the candidate he had handpicked for the post of Mayor.

Mr. Livingstone defeated the nearest Conservative candidate, Mr. Steve Norris, by a huge margin of 2,12,290 votes. Mr. Livingstone, popularly known as ``Red Ken'' polled 7,76,427 votes as against 5,64,137 secured in the second preference votes as none of the candidates got more than 50 per cent votes in the first preference.

Mr. Dobson, who was pushed to third place, was just ahead of the Liberal Democrat candidate, Ms. Susan Kramer. A candidate of Asian origin, Mr. Ram Gidoomal, who stood for the newly launched Christian People's Alliance, performed creditably and with around 2.5 per cent of the vote turned in the best result of all the smaller party candidates.

In local council elections across England, the Conservatives did better than expected, wresting 600 seats from Labour.

Mr. Livingstone won nearly 43 per cent of the first preference votes, including many from Labour party supporters. This defection of Labour voters to the rebel candidate presents Mr. Blair and the Labour party leadership the biggest rebellion they have faced since coming to power. Mr. Livingstone is a veteran Labour politician who came to prominence by taking on the then Prime Minister, Ms. Margaret Thatcher, in the early 1980s when he headed the local authority for London. He espoused left-wing policies which eventually led Ms. Thatcher to scrap the local body for London.

Mr. Livingstone has mellowed since then but he remains a vocal critic of Mr. Blair's centrist policies. The party leadership was determined that Mr. Livingstone should not run for Mayor and weighted the selection procedure against him.

Mr. Livingstone retaliated by choosing to contest independently. Mr. Livingstone declared the results as a ``wake up call to the Government'', adding that the news from all over the country was ``bad for Labour.'' He said if the Labour party wanted to win the next general election, it would have to ``do more for pensioners, education and health.''

Results from Labour strongholds in other parts of England indicate that the party has not been able to mobilise its traditional working class and trade union voters, many of whom feel alienated from the changes Mr. Blair has brought to the party. Older sections of the population and pensioners also appear to be disgruntled with the party for not doing enough for them.

Also, the London vote clearly demonstrates a reaction from the rank and file to Mr. Blair's centralised leadership style.

Mr. Livingstone was a clear favourite among the rank and file party members as well as Londoners. Mr. Blair imposed his own candidate on the party and the people reacted by not voting for him. With a general election expected next year, the Labour party leadership will have to draw on the lessons learned from this defeat if it wants to come back to power.

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