Keeping Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London

THE ARGUMENTS FOR

Ken Livingstone has been mayor for eight years. He has avoided major scandal and even his Tory rival, Boris Johnson, admits, "He has done some great things for London." Why change a leader who's doing his stuff?

Livingstone is popular among London's black and Asian communities. Issues such as terrorism and gang culture require that London has a mayor able to cross racial divides.

Despite initial opposition, the congestion charge - a daily fee of £8 to bring a car into central London - is now recognised as a success. It is evidence of Livingstone's ability to champion ideas that would terrify mainstream politicians.

Livingstone was expelled from the Labour Party in 2000 and although he was readmitted in 2004, he remains an independently minded mayor. A vote for Ken is not a vote for Gordon Brown.

THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST

Livingstone has run his office like a fiefdom, rewarding friends and punishing enemies. His refusal to denounce his race advisor Lee Jasper, during months of allegations of impropriety with tax payers’ money, adds to his reputation for cronyism.

Ken's firebrand personality is a liability. He has labelled the Israeli Prime Minister a 'war criminal', likened a Conservative politician to Joseph Goebbels, and called the US ambassador a 'chiselling little crook'. He refuses to apologise for his remarks.

The mayor's affinity for gesture politics and his ties to controversial figures - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the Islamic cleric Yusaf al-Qaradawi among them - taint London as a whole.

Livingstone spends millions on PR. Boris Johnson claims that a 20 per cent cut in PR costs could fund four new rape crisis centres. (However, Johnson bases his calculations on a 70-strong media team, whereas Livingstone says there are only 16.)