I SENT a donation to Labour MP 'Red' Ken Livingstone this week - though I've no time for his dinosaur-style of socialism. And, after all, when he was in charge of the old Greater London Council, it was loony Leftism institutionalised and l don't think he's changed his spots much in the meantime.

But though it was only a token pound that I gave to his campaign for the right to put up as the Labour Mayor of London, what motivated me is Tony Blair's doing his damnedest, despite his denials, to stop him standing on the party's ticket.

I don't know whether, as some suggest, that the mighty Prime Minister, commanding a slavish steamroller majority in the Commons with which he can swat individual rebels like Red Ken any time he likes, is really afraid of this maverick setting up a rival personal power base should he ever become the American-style first citizen of the Smoke.

But it is the reports of Downing Street having party officials compiling a dossier of Ken's supposedly rebellious 'crimes' against the New Labour credo in order to persuade a special Labour vetting panel to block his candidacy in party colours - despite clear opinion poll evidence that he would be the most popular runner - that nark me.

To me, it is not that Ken is any serious threat to Blair that has made him a target for this nasty campaign to kill his candidature, but simply because, unlike of the rest of New Labour's thought-policed troops at Westminster, he will not jump to the crack of the party whip, will not go with the spin or shut up when he's told.

In short, he is a thorn in the side of the bossy boss - because he cannot be bossed. Therefore, he has got to be eliminated - no matter that he is the man the people manifestly prefer.

And didn't we see the same arrogant autocracy at work at the weekend in the contest for the leadership of the Labour Party in Wales - the winner of which can look forward to being First Secretary of the new Welsh parliament? It was won by the Blair-blessed candidate, obscure Home Office minister Alun Michael, though nearly twice as many party members preferred Cardiff West back-bench MP Rhodri Morgan, an independent-minded non-Blairite socialist.

But the people's choice, Mr Morgan, lost because he was bulldozed by the votes of Labour MPs doing Mr Blair's bidding and by the block votes of the favour-seeking trade unions - a undemocratic device New Labour was happy to have the electorate believe was being done away with in the party.

I am sure most people outside London or Wales have little interest in either of these power struggles, but it is plain that our ever so-popular "straight guy" Prime Minister is ready to resort to manipulation and dirty tricks to have his picked men running the show (at the end of his puppet strings) in both places rather than people the people prefer, so arrogantly obsessed with power is he.

It stinks so much that I have a good mind to send Ken another quid. This control-freak Prime Minister's pomposity needs pricking with all thorn-in-side sorts the country can muster.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.