The first directly-elected mayor of London, Mr Ken Livingstone, will be officially sworn in later today with the prospect that one of his first actions will be to challenge the British government in court over its plan to part privatise the Underground.
The MP, expelled from the Labour Party after his decision to stand as an independent in the mayoral election, denied he was trying to build a power base in London to bring down the government. But he said he would stand up to the government if he believed its policies, especially on the Tube, were wrong.
Predicting the deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, who has ministerial responsibility for transport, would move towards his position on establishing a bond system to keep the Tube in the public sector, Mr Livingstone said: "I think he will be in a position to say this [part privatisation] isn't a particularly good deal, and back out of it," he told BBC's Breakfast with Frost.
"If they don't, and they try to push ahead with the deal that is bad for London, you would have to consider going to a judge and saying `well is this really right?'" Mr Livingstone also confirmed to the Observer yesterday he was going to seek re-admission to the Labour Party, possibly later this year. Meanwhile, Mr Livingstone spent the weekend drawing up his mayoral team. Highlighting his commitment to improving race relations between the police and the community, he appointed Mr Lee Jasper, an outspoken black activist, as spokesman on race relations and to liaise with the Metropolitan Police.
He also offered the position of Deputy Mayor to the Labour Assembly member, Mr Nicky Gavron. The offer was seen as a snub to Mr Frank Dobson's running mate, Mr Trevor Phillips, whose former aide organised a parliamentary complaint against Mr Livingstone over his earnings outside politics.
Other offers include an invitation to the Labour GLA member, Lord Harris, to head the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Green GLA member, Mr Darren Johnson, to lead the environment committee. Mr Livingstone also wants the three main candidates who stood against him for mayor to join his team. He wants Mr Frank Dobson to lead the fight against poverty in the city, and the Conservative, Mr Steven Norris, and the Liberal Democrat, Ms Susan Kramer, to share the transport portfolio.