Ken Livingstone has vowed to return as Mayor in 2012.

At a drink do for his former City Hall employees at the Irish Porterhouse pub in Covent Garden, the deposed politican told his minions to "hang on in there" until he returns.

Vipers in the nest

His electoral nemesis, new Conservative Mayor Boris Johnson, still has several Livingstone Trotskyites in his staff including Jude Woodward, a member of the secretive Socialist Action group, in charge of the mayors "major cultural events," and Bob Pitt, who's role is undefined. Other vipers have fled the nest such as Redmond O'Neil and Anne Kane.

Livingstone allayed the fears of his faithful that to stay would be treachery saying:

"No one who stays will be thought of as disloyal - for those of you who can stomach it."

The free booze and treats where on red Ken who seems to have put his memoirs on the back burner for another crack at Boris.

Party (un)faithful

Gordon Brown was given short thrift in unsympathetic terms when explaining why he had to wait until 2010 to formally announce his campaign.

While he shows little loyalty for his Labour brethren leader, his party activists, who still won't accept he is a spent force, will no doubt see him clear to the party nomination - he may also want to pay attention to the hundreds of thousands of Londoners who rejected him at the polls barely a month ago.