Livingstone ran as an independent, charging British Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Anthony Blair with rigging the party's selection process to ensure Frank Dobson was the official Labour candidate. Livingstone garnered 39 percent of "first preference" votes and his total reached 58 percent after the "second preference" votes were tallied. Blair's nominee came in third with 13.1 percent of the first preference vote, behind the 27 percent cast for the Conservative Party candidate Steven Norris.

After the results were announced, the London Times ran a front page headline titled, "Ken's wake-up call to Blair." This was typical of the response in the big-business media to Livingstone's victory.

Livingstone immediately challenged the Labour government on its plans to partially privatize the London Underground tube (subway) system and called for government intervention to avert massive redundancies (layoffs), after Ford announced it would scale back, then close its Dagenham car production plant here.

One of the new mayor's first appointments was Lee Jasper, leader of the National Assembly against Racism, to be responsible for race relations and liaison with the police. Livingstone, who was expelled from the Labour Party when he decided to run as an independent after Blair's undemocratic maneuver, reiterated his continued backing for Labour, and called for his own reinstatement.

Much of the commentary in the media since the election has speculated on how the fight will unfold over the course of the Labour Party. For example, Geoff Martin, the organizer of the public sector workers union in London, announced he will stand for leader of the Labour Party here. He said his platform will feature bringing Livingstone back into the party. Martin's union, along with the firefighers and rail workers unions, backed Livingstone's campaign in defiance of Blair and other top Labour officials.

The Conservative Party also improved its showing at the ballot box, winning the same number of seats as Labour in the London Assembly elections. Around the country, the Conservatives gained some 593 council seats, mainly at the expense of Labour. During the campaign, Conservative Party leader William Hague focused on demands for more stringent government action against people seeking asylum in Britain and advocated various "anticrime" measures.

In the London elections, the fascist British National Party polled 3 percent of the vote. Combined with the rightist UK Independence Party and Christian Peoples Alliance, rightist forces increased their vote total to 8 percent. The Green Party won 3 seats with 11 percent of the vote, an increase over past elections.

Pete Clifford is a member of the Transport and General Workers' Union.  
 
 
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