Tessa Jowell - London minister

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Question: What's at stake for London on polling day?

Jowell: London is one of the greatest cities in the world and the challenge is to make it an even better city for Londoners to live in.

In terms of London's economy, transport, crime, the things that people really care about, London has a choice between a mayor whose competence is proven, who has brought untold benefits to London and a Conservative candidate who is really just a bit of a joke.

One young man put it very well on Question Time last week when he said to Boris: 'can't you answer any questions and can you tell us what you are going to do for London?' And the answer is no.

Question: Some people have been critical of the lack of energy around Ken Livingstone's campaign. Are you happy with it?

Jowell: Absolutely. I think that you have got to understand that this has been an under the radar street campaign. This has not been a campaign that has been fought out in the newspapers and on the media, this has been a campaign that has been fought on the doorsteps of London, on the shopping streets of London and at the bus stops and Tube stations. I think it has been the biggest doorstep campaign Labour has ever conducted in the capital and certainly the biggest for a very long time.

On the last Saturday of the campaign we had literally thousands of campaigners out across the city and over the final period they will be distributing over four million messages about the risk to London that Boris Johnson poses to London.

So it has been a local campaign perhaps not visible to the Westminster-based media but out there on the doorsteps it has been one of the most vigorous campaigns we have ever fought.

Question: Does this election have wider, national repercussions?

Jowell: No I don't. For better or for worse this has been a campaign dominated by two big figures - Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, an entertainer who's well known. They have driven the campaign so it has been much less a campaign about Labour nationally than almost any I have been involved in.

This has been a campaign about London and the future of London.

Question: But it can't have helped to have the likes of Lord Levy criticising Gordon Brown?

Jowell: Every election campaign in my experience has to absorb these kinds of blows and you have to roll with them and move on to the next thing. Now our activists are out giving people messages about the risk to London posed by Boris Johnson as they come home from work.

Question: You must believe that internal critics of Brown and the government should keep their peace?

Jowell: There has been a media chorus of quite unjustified criticism of the prime minister but the media chorus is not heard on the doorsteps and so wait and see. We have had a really vigorous campaign across the city and Ken has demonstrated that he is the mayor for the whole of London.

He has been all over London taking his message of further change for London to build a city that can adapt to global challenges, challenges created by the change of pace in the city itself.