ABSTRACT
The implementation of the London Plan depended on a range of factors outside the Mayor’s control. The central government had supported the overall objectives of the London Plan in that the government’s representatives at the Examination in Public had not put forward substantive objections to the Mayor’s policy and the Secretary of State had not used his powers to veto the Plan’s adoption. However there was a degree of ambivalence in terms of the government’s active support. In this context it should be remembered that Ken Livingstone was originally elected as an Independent and the adoption of the Plan in fact coincided with Ken Livingstone’s adoption as the Labour candidate for the May 2004 election, despite opposition to his readmission to the Labour party from some leasing members of the government, including, so it is understood, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
