Labour has insisted that it will give Ken Livingstone a fair hearing as he attempts to secure membership of the party.

Livingstone has applied to rejoin the Labour Party just two years after being kicked out for running as an independent.

Labour Party chairman, Charles Clarke, met with London Labour MPs last week to discuss how the party will select its candidate for the mayoral poll.

But John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, expressed strong reservations about the move.

"I just don't believe this man in whatever he says,'' Prescott told Breakfast with Frost. "But of course I will be fair in my consideration when it comes before the executive."