After 40 years, real life begins for Livingstone

Ken Livingstone will take his children to school tomorrow and begin life outside politics for the first time in nearly 40 years.

A lucrative career in after-dinner speaking beckons, where he can trade on his celebrity and utilise his wry wit.

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He also looks set to begin work on his memoirs, telling the story of his extraordinary rise from Lambeth Council to running the capital twice.

Aides insist he did not contemplate his future during his unsuccessful battle to see off the challenge from Boris Johnson.

But, as polling day loomed, the mayor let slip that if he was defeated, he would try to emulate his Tory rival by becoming a commentator and writer.

"If I lost there would be a vacancy on the after-dinner speaking circuit so we would really just be swapping jobs," he quipped.

Mr Livingstone has also spoken of writing an autobiography, although he is not believed to have negotiated a publishing contract for such a book yet.

"If I don't win, come 6 May I will be taking the kids to school and starting a book on my last eight years as Mayor," he had said.

The fee he receives would depend on his willingness to be candid about his long-running feud with Gordon Brown, which was hastily papered over during the mayoral campaign. He would also have to write speedily, as its value would plummet if Labour was no longer in office when it was published.

Boris Johnson has hinted that there could be an advisory role for his predecessor in the new-look Greater London Authority. But friends believe the offer will never materialise – and that Mr Livingstone would be unable to stomach working for his Tory opponent.

They pointed out that he is still brimming over with energy, despite looking visibly exhausted towards the end of the campaign. They also made the practical point that, despite drawing a parliamentary pension from his 13 years as an MP, he cannot afford to retire.

Mr Livingstone, 62, has five children by three different women and is in regular touch with all of them.

It is Thomas, five, and Mia, four – his children with his current partner, Emma Beal – that he will be taking to school tomorrow.

He has two daughters with one previous partner and a son with a third woman. Their identities have not been revealed. He is said to be an "involved father" who is in regular touch with all his children.

Mr Livingstone paid a final visit to City Hall over the bank holiday weekend to clear his office and take home his personal mementoes. The only clue to his other plans for the weekend came on the final day of campaigning when a reporter asked him what he would do if he won. He responded: "Have a bloody great drink." She persisted: "And if you don't?" He replied: "Have a bloody great drink!"