First Sugar, then Winston and now Lord Desai:

“London is changing so fast that I wish the Labour Party had found a better candidate… London does need a dynamic, innovative Mayor — there is no doubt about that. Ken just does not have it. It’s a lack of new ideas. When I see him talking, he is still talking about what he did before. He’s still living in the past.”

Labour MPs are silent about Ken today, in fact the only person cheer-leading seems to be George Galloway. Not long now…

It looks like Ken’s “Beacon of Islam” comments and “divide and rule” strategy has worked wonders for him:

You don’t see Dave stopped in the street and presented with £300 handmade Oliver Sweeney leather loafers? Boris is a shoe in…

Vid via the CFI and Raheem Kassam 

Cue much hand-wringing…

Clipped from the full video that was lifted from the BBC by Political Scrapbook.

That well known vote winner Neil Kinnock has ridden to Ken’s rescue today by signing a letter demanding Labour fall into line and vote for him. He seems to have changed his tune from 2000 when he lashed out at Ken’s disloyalty, telling Kevin Maguire of the Guardian:

“Ken Livingstone has only ever belonged to one party – the Ken Livingstone party”

Other signatories include Alastair Campbell, who once described Ken as an “egomaniac” and did everything he could to stop him coming to power in 2000. Though plenty of London MPs have signed the letter, it’s interesting to note that neither Diane Abbott or Meg Hillier have done so. Perhaps the two Hackney MPs still remember what their predecessor Brian Sedgemore had to say about Ken:

“Ken is a sad and lonely figure. He continually portrays himself as a victim when he is in fact a destructive manipulator. If you slice him through the middle what you see is a man whose heart does not pump for the Labour party but who is completely obsessed with himself. I don’t see why London has to suffer because he hasn’t fulfilled his ambition to be party leader.”

Meanwhile, as the Standard comes out for Boris, more well-known lefties are running for the hills today. The Indy’s John Rentoul and Dan Hodges have both declared that in this two-horse race it has to be Boris. Peter Hain is leading the public charge against them.

Because he’s never changed sides…

UPDATE: Oh dear Peter. Lets turn to page 159/60 of Hain’s autobiography Outside In:

“I wanted to be effective, to be able to make a real difference. And that meant learning what not to do from Ken Livingstone … he seemed to go out of his way to make enemies.”

A good spot by Though Cowards Flinch.

Only a month ago Ken said he wanted to drop negative campaigning:

I suggest to Boris Johnson therefore that he and I work together to raise the tone and spirit of this election. Let us talk about what really matters to each and every Londoner, and end the X-Factor slug-fest.

We want to concentrate vigorously on those issues that can make Londoners better off over the next month of this campaign.

As you can see Ken’s campaign today paints Boris as an alien blue slug. Not exactly a positive focus on the issues…

No picture of the candidate kissing a baby, not a single reference to him.

Ken is so toxic his own leaflets don’t mention his name.

Hat-tip: @RobDotHutton

I don’t care if Ed Miliband is backing Livingstone . I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections—
Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) April 19, 2012

Yesterday’s cack-handed plea by Labour’s campaign supremo Tom Watson for Labour supporters who can’t stand Ken to “hold your nose, vote for Ken” follows on from Labour peers Lord Sugar and Lord Winston expressing anti-Ken sentiments.

Labour have now roped in Oona King, who was once described by Ken as a Blairite “she-devil” to support Ken in a transparently false show of party unity. What Oona really thinks about Ken was revealed before he was selected as the official candidate. She said ‘I don’t think Ken Livingstone is the way to go. He may qualify for Britain’s Got Talent but only on UK Gold’. Not the most ringing endorsement…

Left-wing blogger @PSBookEditor becomes latest Labour figure to refuse to support Ken #NotKenAgain—
Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) April 26, 2012

Guido was intrigued to hear on the grapevine that Tom Watson’s tame attack-puppies at the left-wing union-sponsored website Political Scrapbook can’t stand Ken Livingstone either. He searched their website for evidence of support for Ken and found none – months of anti-Boris material, not one single article so far that is pro-Ken. Last night Guido challenged them on Twitter to back Ken with a bet. They refused to back Ken…

Just when the Mayoral election was getting a little bit dry, the fine people at Oddbins have lined up a special selection of wines relevant to each candidate:

Boris is apparently a Diane de Belgrave Haut-Medoc Bordeaux. “Just like the current Mayor, the wine has been around since 2008, is classic old-school with a posh upbringing and a fruity side” Guido would have gone with Blue Nun…

Thirsty Ken Livingston is paired off with a Cape Chamonix Pinotage. “The perfect wine for Ken must go with newts, carry real weight and also have legs – as it doesn’t look like he is ever going to retire.” He’ll have a crate of it, though surely he’s a Cuban rum?

Paddick is apparently a Berton Paddock Shiraz. The name aside apparently it has “liberal fruity characteristics”. Not your average jungle juice…

You may be able to win these in the caption contest tomorrow. Guido will get back to you on that…

The Beeb and Standard are both running heavily with voter fraud allegations in Tower Hamlets. Ken’s allies in the council have been investigated by the Electoral Commission and today the  Met were called in. With just a week to go, this will be one to watch next Thursday…