Opik 'won't run for mayor'

Lembit Opik has ruled out a London mayoral bid, despite comments from a senior Liberal Democrat that he would "make a much better mayor than Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone".

The Liberal Democrat leader's chief of staff, Ed Davey, made the statement in an ePolitix.com podcast in which he also revealed that his party is now gearing up for a general election on October 25.

Since Boris Johnson announced his intention to stand for next year's London mayoral poll, speculation has been mounting about who the Lib Dems would put up.

And the colourful Montgomeryshire MP's name had been linked with the candidacy.

"Lembit is a good friend of mine - I share an office with him and if he decided to run he would certainly make one of the most interesting candidates in the race," Davey said.

"Would Lembit make a good mayor? I think that Lembit would make a much better mayor than Boris Johnson or Ken Livingstone."

Sir Menzies Campbell's most senior aide went on to say that there would have to be a democratic process before a candidate was chosen.

"We are a democratic party and unlike the Conservatives we won't be anointing someone in the same way we have seen with Boris Johnson," he said.

"Nominations close around the time of our conference and then we'll have a democratic vote for our candidate and I wouldn't like to predict the outcome."

Opik initially responded to the comment by describing it as "ever so flattering". "If I was a London MP I would stand like a shot. The only issue is my constituency is 205 miles away," he said.

And he later told the BBC that he was ruling out a mayoral bid in order to focus attention on his constituency.

In his ePolitix.com interview, Davey also discussed prospects for an early general election.

"We are all getting ready for an election in October. We think that October 25 is a very possible date for the prime minister," he said.

"He has had a bit of a bounce in the polls and David Cameron's honeymoon is well and truly over.

"The Tories are almost as low in the polls as they were under Iain Duncan Smith so Gordon Brown may well choose to call an election for October 25.

"We are the most prepared we have ever been for an election than at any similar time in a Parliament."