Liberal Democrats select Hughes to stand in election for London's Mayor

Simon Hughes completed the list of main party contenders for the 2004 London mayoral election yesterday when he was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate by a margin of almost two votes to one.

Mr Hughes, an MP in south-east London, for 20 years, said that the race represented "a huge chance" for the Liberal Democrats. The party's Home Affairs spokesman beat Susan Kramer, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the first mayoral race, by 63 per cent to 34 per cent.

Mr Hughes predicted yesterday that he could not only beat Steve Norris, the Tory candidate, and Nicky Gavron, the Labour candidate, but also defeat the Mayor, Ken Livingstone, currently riding high on the apparent success of his congestion charging scheme.

"It's an election we believe we can win," he said. "We can overtake the Tories and beat the incumbent Mayor. He is no longer the folk hero returning from exile. He is the very present politician who will have a record we believe we can take him on over."

The Liberal Democrats are counting on second-preference votes from Labour and Tory voters to help them defeat Mr Livingstone, who stood as an independent candidate.

Lord Rennard, the party's head of campaigns and strategy, said second preferences could prove crucial. "This is going to be a big Lib Dem campaign. Nicky Gavron could be fourth so Simon Hughes is quite capable of getting first or second."

Mr Hughes pledged yesterday to campaign for a "safe city", to continue with a form of congestion charging, and to support a London bid for the Olympic Games. He said he would not rehearse old arguments on who should run the Tube and wanted to see the Prime Minister about backing a London bid for the Games.

Charles Kennedy offered his "warmest congratulations" to his old rival, whom he defeated in the race to lead the party. "I think we have an exceptionally fine candidate for Mayor of London," he said. "I think we are very fortunate as a party that Simon will be our standard bearer. What an exceptional opportunity this campaign represents for us."

But Labour accused its rivals of selecting "male, pale and stale" candidates to fight Ken Livingstone.

"I am disappointed on the eve of International Women's Day that both the Liberals and Tories have refused to pick a woman as their mayoral candidate," said Nicky Gavron. "We now have a failed Tory minister and failed Liberal leadership candidate competing to be Mayor of London."