Livingstone turns radio host on LBC

A seat in the House of Lords for Ken Livingstone - mooted here yesterday - may not be as pressing a requirement as his friends thought. The deposed London mayor has now secured an even better platform on which to air his views - a job at the London talk radio station LBC.

Livingstone will join the station at the end of next month, standing in for Jeni Barnett on her weekday afternoon show. It will give him the perfect opportunity for sniping at the new mayor, Boris Johnson, who is already under fire for returning to write his column for the Daily Telegraph (for which he will reportedly be paid £250,000 a year).

But his most immediate concern is how he will get on with colleague, LBC breakfast host Nick Ferrari. Ferrari, who once entertained the idea of being mayor himself, came out in support of Johnson during the mayoral campaign and he once gave out Livingstone's personal telephone number on air. "I'll be the perfect afternoon antidote to Nick Ferrari. You can detox with me," the former mayor said.

Livingstone has moved quickly to secure new income streams since losing office on May 1. According to a report in the London Evening Standard, he has already made £100,000 from speaking engagements in the past fortnight. In addition, his literary agent is trying to secure him a six-figure deal for his memoirs.