Personalities, and not parties, will win next year's London mayoral campaign, Conservative candidate Steve Norris has said.

In an interview with ePolitix.com, he suggested that party tags have become vote losers in politics.

However the former minister denied that he is hiding his party affiliation by running a campaign website that contains no clear reference to his Tory nomination.

"I'm very keen to be the official Conservative candidate," he said.

"But the important thing is you should be looking at what Steve Norris says. You've got to be looking at what Steve Norris says he will do as the candidate."

Asked if there is a negative connotation attached to having a party label, Norris said: "Yes exactly, precisely. And that goes for all political parties. That's the whole point."

Drawing on his experience of standing in the first mayoral election, Norris also said that Londoners knew they were voting for individuals rather than parties.

"The whole point about the fact that last time, and I think this time, that the two candidates who are going to battle it out are both seen to be people who have ideas of their own is that people very sensibly recognise that it is an individual you are voting for and not a political party."

And Norris said that he was running on "a personal manifesto, not a Conservative manifesto".

"I'm very interested in what my Conservative colleagues say, I'm very interested in what politicians of all parties say, I'm interested in what people who are not politicians say. But ultimately this is a personal manifesto, that's the way it has to be," he said.

Norris also told ePolitix.com he believes the contest will come down to a two-horse race between himself and the incumbent, independent Ken Livingstone.

He argued that because of their well known personalities the two "poster colour" candidates have the force of personality to win the election.

"I think it's a two-horse race. There are only going to be two of us in the second round," predicted Norris, who finished second to Livingstone in 2000.

Norris believes that, despite some differences, there is a degree of unanimity over what needs to be done in London, making the contest a question of who can do the job best.

"There was actually last time a huge consensus on what the big issues where and for that matter what the solutions were. I expect that to be the case this time," he said.

"I think a lot of it may very well come down to personalities. It's a very personal kind of contest.

"It's a single individual that you vote for, not a political party."