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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Livingstone 'doesn't blame Brown' | Livingstone 'doesn't blame Brown' |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Ken Livingstone has said he does not blame Gordon Brown for his failure to win a third term as London mayor. | Ken Livingstone has said he does not blame Gordon Brown for his failure to win a third term as London mayor. |
| He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show Labour's poll ratings had made it difficult to win but his "personal vote" should have been higher too. | He told BBC One's Andrew Marr Show Labour's poll ratings had made it difficult to win but his "personal vote" should have been higher too. |
| And he refused to add his voice to calls for Mr Brown to go, advising the prime minister to "hang on in there". | And he refused to add his voice to calls for Mr Brown to go, advising the prime minister to "hang on in there". |
| He also spoke of his fascination with watching his Conservative successor Boris Johnson work. | He also spoke of his fascination with watching his Conservative successor Boris Johnson work. |
| In his first broadcast interview since leaving office, Mr Livingstone said losing the mayoralty had been like a "bereavement" but he was over it now. | In his first broadcast interview since leaving office, Mr Livingstone said losing the mayoralty had been like a "bereavement" but he was over it now. |
| Asked by Andrew Marr if he was "stalking" his successor, Mr Livingstone said: "I find it fascinating watching Boris do the job I was doing, working out how I'd do it differently, looking at what I think are the mistakes which will bring him down in four years. | Asked by Andrew Marr if he was "stalking" his successor, Mr Livingstone said: "I find it fascinating watching Boris do the job I was doing, working out how I'd do it differently, looking at what I think are the mistakes which will bring him down in four years. |
| "I find it fascinating, you can go and sit and watch two and half hours of Boris and it's free. You pay about ten quid to get into a cinema." | "I find it fascinating, you can go and sit and watch two and half hours of Boris and it's free. You pay about ten quid to get into a cinema." |
| Labour 'problems' | |
| Mr Livingstone was spotted in the public gallery when Mr Johnson faced London Assembly members at his first mayor's question time. | Mr Livingstone was spotted in the public gallery when Mr Johnson faced London Assembly members at his first mayor's question time. |
| He told Andrew Marr he wanted Mr Johnson to do a "good job" in continuing to develop London. | |
| A change of leader I do not think would change the outcome of the election Ken Livingstone | |
| "I don't want to get back in four years and get a catastrophe I have to clear up," he said. | |
| Asked if he would be making another bid for the mayoralty, he said: "I won't make a decision until 2010, once the general election is over. If there was an election now I would run again." | |
| The ex-London mayor said he would not bet on Labour winning the next general election but said he did not think changing Labour's leader would "change the outcome". | |
| But Mr Livingstone - who has fallen out with Mr Brown in the past - said he needed to shift to the left - and tax the rich more to have any hope of winning. | |
| He predicted the prime minister would steer the country through global financial turbulence without the economy slipping into recession - boosting its chances at the polls. | |
| "Clearly it's not a very happy prospect for the Labour Party," he told Andrew Marr. | |
| "A change of leader I do not think would change the outcome of the election. There is a lot of problems built up as they do with any party in power over a long period. | |
| "I would not advocate changing the leader. We have got to hang on in there and deliver. | |
| "In a year's time, people will have got over this. We will have had what will then be 13 years without a recession. | |
| It won't necessarily deliver a victory but I would not be willing to bet my own money on the outcome of the next election." | |
| 'Personal vote' | |
| The party had to address a feeling that "working class people have not done as well under this government as middle class people." | |
| "Far too much of it has been about shifting a bit of wealth between these two groups rather than, the big mistake of Blair and Brown, not being prepared to increase tax on the richest. That's the weakness. | |
| "Otherwise you are shifting a bit from the working class to the middle class or back and both of those need to be on board for a Labour fourth term." | |
| He said he did not blame the party for his defeat. | |
| "I don't blame Labour. I built up a personal vote of about a quarter of a million. If I could have built that up to a third of a million I would still be there. I should have done that. | |
| "You have got to allow for the fact that parties are unpopular sometimes." | |
| Mr Brown was not a "showman" like predecessor Tony Blair "who will charm you and seduce you into voting for them", he said. | |
| "But there will be a record of delivery." |