I LIKE KEN BUT

THE race to become London Mayor is now well and truly joined.

Whoever wins could have a real impact on the quality of life in our city.

And there's now a clear field of candidates. We know of course who will carry the Tory banner, and my heart quails at the prospect of our great city's voice on the national and international stage being Jeffrey Archer. Virtually any of the other declared candidates would be better than him.

But as London's only voice now at the Cabinet table, a London MP for 16 years and local councillor before that, I'm taking a very keen interest in what outcome we get, and particularly in who secures the Labour nomination.

My main concern is to ensure it is a serious contest, with serious- minded candidates debating the key London issues: transport, crime, health, planning, job opportunities and combating inequality.

This is not a contest that should be decided simply on personalities. It should be decided on the basis of who will provide the most dedicated, serious and effective leadership on the key issues.

And in my book that means it's got to be Frank Dobson.

As the MP with the neighbouring constituency to Frank throughout the last decade and a half - throughout the period when successive Conservative governments did everything they could to undermine London's quality of life - I've seen Frank work his heart out for London. When all of us who live around King's Cross became utterly frustrated with the tide of crime and drug-dealing that made the surrounding streets and estates unsafe, it was Frank who banged heads together, who got the police, the transport authorities, local councils and the health authority all working to the same goals.

The result hasn't been perfect - it never can be - but there's been a vast improvement.

When the General Election result gave us the chance to reconsider the disastrous Tomlinson proposals for London's health and hospital services, it was Frank who set up the Turnberg Inquiry immediately, revised the plans, saved Bart's Hospital from closure and put London's hospital services onto some sort of sustainable basis for the future.

When the BNP raised its ugly head in local council elections in Docklands, it was Frank who took the lead in tackling racism head- on, fighting the issue hard among all the decent people of Tower Hamlets, and winning.

During the past 20 years and more, I've lived through the ups and downs of the GLC and of London politics. I saw the triumphs of Andrew McIntosh and Dave Wetzel in putting forward the Fares Fair policy. I applauded Tony Banks when he ensured a great improvement in the arts in London. I lived through the campaign we all fought to save the GLC from abolition. And I've lived through the subsequent years and seen Frank Dobson argue London's case, month in, month out, in the House of Commons.

We need someone with that tenacity and that solid record to represent us.

Someone who will take the transport system by the scruff of its neck, get the investment that it desperately needs - from whatever source - and use the Mayor's powers to bring about a decisive shift to public transport. Someone who will involve local communities around London in deciding how best to tackle crime - just as happened in King's Cross.

Someone who will take an intelligent approach to the major cross- borough-boundary planning issues, about large-scale development and patterns of shopping and working and travelling for the city as a whole.

Someone who is going to

be listened to with respect by national government, by Europe, and in the global arenas where decisions about major international events are made.

I like Ken Livingstone a lot.

But I can't help feeling that he won't provide that seriousness of purpose which London requires.

His interview in the Evening Standard this week, in particular, left me puzzled and worried. He didn't seem to have done any figures on the costs of any proposals. Indeed, he seemed to say he'd only start drawing up detailed proposals after being selected as candidate.

And some of the detail that is there already is disturbing: does he realise, for example, the damage that would be done to London's vital tourism industry by an extension of airport tax?

I'm also worried by the apparent ambivalence in his attitude towards any possibility of running as an independent candidate should he not succeed in his quest for the Labour nomination. Surely, if you commit yourself to the Labour race, you shouldn't leave other options open in case you don't make it.

I wish I could say otherwise about Ken. But it's substance that matters in this contest, not image. And if we look beyond the hype, the mythology and the arguments about personality, it seems to me to be very simple. If we're serious about the job and about the future of London - it has to be Frank Dobson.

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