Labour has more lessons to learn from this humbling experience than Ken

Commiserations to Frank. He has done a tough job loyally, paid the price of machinations for which he wasn't responsible, and should now be restored to the senior position he deserves.

Now it is time to get down to the nitty gritty of government. There is no use having a period of Labour and Ken circling each other like sniffing, snarling, dogs, growling and ready to fight. That does no one on either side any good.

Yet Labour has more lessons to learn from this humbling experience than Ken.

Our first mistake was to think that when we devolve power to the people we don't have to devolve it also to the Labour Party in the new units.

When power is handed down from the centre, control freakery towards the party is totally out of place.

Tenuous purity

There has to be some compromise to bring Ken back into the fold quickly ... we shouldn't have put him in the position he's been forced into in the first place

I wouldn't want to repeat this situation either in Wales or Scotland, and certainly not when devolution is extended, as it should be, to the civilised part of the world and regions like Yorkshire and Humberside.

The second is that negative campaigning builds antibodies in the electorate.

The people don't like smears, allegations and character assassination, whether it comes from the party or from a media who all pushed Ken's independent stand because they want to stir things, then sanctimoniously denounced him on the verge of his victory just to safeguard their tenuous purity.

All that's been decisively rejected. The viciousness put people off and has produced sympathy and support for Ken as victim of a clobbering machine which must not be used again, particularly not against our own.

The third is that it is no use sulking. Government has to work with Ken, help and support him and listen to the views of London, which he is now in a position to express.

Need for compromise

If it doesn't it is not damaging him, but it is attacking Londoners and undermining Labour's relationship with them.

The mayor's powers are limited - too limited in my view - but they mustn't be obstructed. Labour must make this new system work.

There has to be some compromise to bring Ken back into the fold quickly. Not on his terms or the party's, but on a basis of a sensible recognition that we shouldn't have put him in the position he's been forced into in the first place.

Tony Blair has already apologised for what happened in Wales when Alun Michael was effectively imposed to keep out Rhodri Morgan. That's an important precedent.

There are apologies to be made now over London. That suggests compromise if they're to be sincere.

I don't think Tony Blair was responsible for what happened but the Thomas � Beckett syndrome certainly pushed acolytes into doing what they thought would please him.

Difficult to deal with

We've had the selection mess as a result. Faced with being the choice of the members but excluded by the machine, anyone of spirit and vigour would have responded in the way Ken did.

Ken has given good service to Labour. He is Labour through and through. He's shown us how to approach campaigning. We're better off with him in Labour's big tent than outside peering in

What alternative did he have? Lying down and dying isn't Ken's style. Nor should we expect it of anyone.

Ken's difficult to deal with. Especially for party hacks. Yet nothing justifies the outpouring of hate and bile that has been thrown at him.

It puts people off the party and particularly a fraternal party such as ours should be. It conveys the implicit message to everyone else that to think for yourself, or criticise the leadership, is unacceptable in New Labour.

Criticisms will all be taken down and used in evidence against you if you step out of line in any way.

The logical extension of that is that we should be a party of clones, our only job to sing adoring hymns about our leaders. That is not a party for anyone of spirit.

Good service

The basic problem is Labour's. There has to be some accommodation. It would be wrong to insist on the same inflexible exclusion as might be imposed on a Militant infiltrator.

Ken has given good service to Labour. He is Labour through and through. He's shown us how to approach campaigning. We're better off with him in Labour's big tent than outside peering in.

The balance of power in the new assembly means that coalition politics will now be the norm in London.

We don't want to add to the problems of that by excluding the mayor from the Labour fold.

Nor do we want a situation where an independent mayor has to build up his own support, and possibly party, to run against us. That would produce conflict in London.

So let's all work together. Otherwise we fail the people. My advice to Tony Blair and Militant is to lie back and think of London.