July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Ken Livingstone, who lost his bid for a third term as London mayor last year, said he plans a political comeback.
“I would love to be mayor again, and I see nothing on the horizon to dissuade me from seeking election in 2012,” said Livingstone, 64, in an interview at his north London home on July 10. “I feel like I’m 35.”
Livingstone, a lifelong Londoner and city politician since 1973, was defeated by Boris Johnson, a Conservative and former member of Parliament, in May 2008. Johnson has dismantled Livingstone’s policies such as the congestion charge on drivers in West London and introduced budget cuts amid the worst U.K. recession since World War II.
Livingstone said London’s economy faces 20 years of “rebalancing,” with slower growth and higher unemployment. He said the government should boost spending on housing and transportation during the recession.
That will ensure that London remains “an attractive competitor to New York” as a global financial center, he said.
Cutting U.K. defense spending to match the level of Germany would free up 15 billion pounds ($24 billion) annually for investment, he said.
Britain is “no longer a global superpower,” Livingstone said. “We no longer should be the second one into these conflicts” after the U.S., he said, referring to Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.K. has the second-largest number of troops in Afghanistan after the U.S.
Hedge Funds
Livingstone sounded skeptical about the concerns of London’s hedge fund and private-equity firms that pending legislation from the European Union to expand regulation would hurt their businesses. Mayor Johnson plans to lobby against the proposals, saying they would damage the city’s competitiveness.
“Just because business tells you it’s a problem doesn’t mean you rubber-stamp everything they ask for,” Livingstone said.
He predicted that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party may be narrowly defeated in the next election.
“The most likely outcome is a small Tory majority or a hung Parliament, but really anything can happen,” said Livingstone, a Labour member. “It’s quite clear to me that this is not a country that has made up its mind in favor of David Cameron.”
A victory by the Cameron-led Conservatives in 2010 would mean Johnson’s “biggest task” will be fighting his own party in the national government over cuts to the London budget, said Livingstone.
Transportation Budget
His sharpest criticism of the current mayor concerns the budget of Transport for London, which runs the city’s bus, train and road networks. Livingstone said the agency had a 1.5 billion-pound reserve when he left office and that Johnson’s strategy is to “run that down.”
Johnson has said that Livingstone’s decision to freeze fares on the London Underground during the election year in 2008 left the railway with a deficit.
In the last year, Johnson has scrapped Livingstone’s 8- pound daily congestion charge on drivers in West London, while maintaining the fee in the central city. The current mayor forced out Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair and cut about 100 jobs at City Hall. He also plans to trim around 2 billion pounds from the Transport for London budget over 10 years.
One perk for the city’s next mayor will be presiding over the 2012 Olympics, which London is hosting. Johnson hasn’t committed to running for a second, four-year term.
“If I feel in 18 months’ time that it has gone well and I’ve got more to offer, than obviously I’d be crazy not to run,” Johnson said in an April interview.
Bugging Allegations
Livingstone also said he was disappointed with the Metropolitan Police’s decision not to hold a further investigation into the alleged bugging of mobile phone messages by journalists working for the News of the World, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
“The decision by the Met is scandalous,” Livingstone said. “It encourages people to think that there’s one law for them and one for us.”
Livingstone, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, spoke at the home he shares with his partner and their two children. The family pets -- albino toads and a boa constrictor -- were in aquariums, and the backyard has a well-tended garden that Livingstone said he’s had more time to cultivate.
He’s giving speeches and writing an autobiography, which he hopes to have published around December.
The Labour Party will be divided on choosing Livingstone as its candidate in 2012, with his core supporters on one side and those wanting someone “completely new” on the other, said Tony Travers, a local government expert at the London School of Economics.
“He needs to present himself as a new candidate, different from the candidate of old and one who’s able to win back those outer London votes that went to Johnson,” Travers said. In last year’s election, Livingstone won much of the inner London vote, while Johnson carried the outer London boroughs.
Livingstone said his would-be Labour rivals can’t match his experience, his stand as an Iraq war opponent, which he says is important in London, or are tainted by an expenses controversy in Parliament, he said.
“You need someone who has a record of running things and who understands government and business,” Livingstone said.
