Livingstone's bid to return to Labour fold is 'on a knife-edge'

Ken Livingstone's application to rejoin the Labour Party, which will be decided by the ruling national executive committee today, is said to be "on a knife-edge".

Amid speculation that Tony Blair will try to block Mr Livingstone's readmission, the NEC's 33 members appeared to be almost evenly split over the issue before their meeting.

As if to underline the controversy over the decision, the Mayor of London's allies criticised Labour's Millbank headquarters last night for failing to send the NEC his letter requesting that the five-year ban be ended early. The letter, which outlined Mr Livingstone's case for being allowed to contest the party's selection of mayoral candidate, was meant to be included in a mailing to all NEC members before today's meeting.

After complaints from some NEC members, and amid claims of last-minute "dirty tricks" to scupper the Mayor's chances, Millbank agreed to fax the letter at the eleventh hour.

The party's HQ did not, however, send out an accompanying letter from the London Assembly's Labour Group which gave its enthusiastic backing to Mr Livingstone.

The NEC meeting will take place as the Mayor attends the Queen's official opening of City Hall, the Greater London Authority's new modern home near Tower Bridge.

Mr Livingstone was expelled from Labour in 2000 when he ran as an independent against Frank Dobson, the party's official candidate.

Among the most powerful opponents to his readmission are Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister.

But London Labour Party activists, MPs and London Assembly members have, in recent months, urged the leadership to readmit the Mayor to prevent a damaging split in the party in the capital during the next Greater London Authority elections in 2004.

Trade union members on the NEC will, in effect, decide the issue, because the constituencies are likely to vote for Mr Livingstone and the MPs and ministers are likely to vote against him. But most NEC members said the outcome was "too close to call".

The letter from the London Assembly Labour group, together with Labour MPs in London and leaders of two of London's biggest trade unions, the GMB and TGWU, states that the Mayor has worked constructively with the Government to introduce Labour policies in London.

"We believe that Ken Livingstone has carried out policies which are fully consistent with Labour's values and that there is broadly a common agenda between the Mayor and the Labour Party," it says.

Under rules already agreed by the NEC, Labour wants to avoid a repeat of its late selection last time by choosing a candidate this year, well ahead of the election in 2004.

Peter Walker, the London representative on Labour's national policy forum, published a survey last night showing that 90 per cent of grassroots members wanted Mr Livingstone back in the party. Mr Walker said: "Not to readmit him at the NEC would be to deny the London Labour Party the right to choose a candidate with clear majority support."