The contest to be London's mayor, running a city of around 13 million people, has come at a crucial moment in British politics. It could help determine the outcome of the next general election. But the contest is essentially one between two highly individualistic, maverick politicians who are in no way typical of the parties whose colors they bear - Labour's Ken Livingstone and the Conservatives' Boris Johnson.Both are "love them or hate them" personalities with a flair for publicity which has made them better known to the British public than most Cabinet ministers.
Greater London has only had an elected mayor (not to be confused with the more ceremonial figure of the Lord Mayor of London representing the interests of the financial City of London) for the past eight years.
For all that time the job has been held by Livingstone who in seeking to win a third term. He has the backing of Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but it was not always so.
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