The parliamentary party now realises any attempt to quit the leftward drift will require time and patience“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted ...” The opening line of Ken Livingstone’s victory speech after the 2000 London mayoral election was equal parts humour and vanity. He was entitled to a moment of bombast,having out-manoeuvred the New Labour machine at the peak of its powers. The throne he had seized was enough like the one he had occupied as leader of the Greater London Council, which Margaret Thatcher had abolished in 1986, and to beget the joke work.
The moment of Livingstones political lives ended with defeat by Boris Johnson,but to the astonishment of many Labour MPs he is enjoying a third incarnation under Jeremy Corbyn as emeritus professor of winding up the right wing of the party. He has an indistinct formal role reviewing policy, which understates his value to the operation. Two of Corbyn’s most senior advisers, and chief of staff Simon Fletcher and head of policy and rebuttal Neale Coleman,are faithful veterans of Livingstone’s City Hall team.
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Source: theguardian.com