Labour's London mayoral race turned nasty yesterday, with supporters of Mr Frank Dobson defending the use of the quote "Red Ken is Red Scum" in campaign literature attacking his leftwing rival, Mr Ken Livingstone.
Mr Livingstone said the Dobson leaflet proved he was the victim of "personalised attacks". However, Mr Dobson's running mate, Mr Trevor Philips, said the quote was taken from a Liberal Democrat magazine and did not reflect the attitude of the Dobson camp itself.
But he added: "The fact is the people who support Ken are basically all people who want the Labour Party to do badly. The Socialist Workers' Party, Socialist Organiser, the Liberals and indeed Tory central office are his most active cheer-leaders."
And while Mr Dobson insisted it was time for all candidates to put aside personality matters and get down to the "brass tacks" of policy, he relaunched his failing campaign with a generalised assault on Mr Livingstone's integrity - suggesting the left-wing MP would run as an Independent if beaten in Labour's electoral college next month.
Mr Dobson said: "Despite his assurances to the contrary, Ken Livingstone has made no secret in his conversations with journalists of his intention to run as an Independent if he is not selected in February. Ken Livingstone is an opportunist. He is the Tories' favoured candidate. There is nothing they would like more than to see Livingstone as mayor."
However, Mr Livingstone - consistently polled as the favourite of all candidates - is also the bookies' favourite to win the May election. Following Thursday's ballot of members of the Transport and General Workers' Union - which gave Mr Livingstone 85.8 per cent of the votes cast, and saw Mr Dobson trail third behind Ms Glenda Jackson with just 6.9 per cent - William Hill yesterday made him 2/5 favourite to become the capital's first elected mayor.
At his policy launch yesterday, Mr Dobson - Downing Street's preferred candidate - condemned Mr Livingstone as a spendthrift whose schemes would cost every London family more than £6,000.
Quoting independent research costing Mr Livingstone's programme at £18 billion, Mr Dobson said a suggested rise in corporation tax would hit London business hardest, and could have a knock-on effect on 100,000 jobs.
But Mr Livingstone shrugged off the claims and said the analysis was flawed: "I am not going to have any powers over corporation tax. Frank should realise I am standing for mayor, not prime minister."