I am entertaining the Queen, when one of my staff signals to me that he knows the result of the NEC vote. I steer the royals away, lest they be privy to hot political news
Saturday. A light day compared with what is becoming known as Super Tuesday. First, to the TUC to address the Campaign Group conference "After New Labour".
I then hop on the Central Line and head for Respect, our anti-racism festival. I meet Roger Lyons of Amicus and then, not altogether unlike groupies, we hover outside De La Soul's tour bus in order to have our photos taken with them. From the stage, I make it clear that I will be brief, which seems to go down well. De La Soul turn out to be genuinely nice people. With 70,000 people present in Victoria Park, that means nearly one in 100 Londoners are hearing the anti-racist message of the festival.
Meeting at City Hall on Monday with Mayor Klaus Wowereit of Berlin. Later in the day, we will be joined by Mayor Bertrand Delanoe of Paris. The election of three socialist mayors of these major European cities helps to buck the rightward trend across the Continent.
Fire drill. Meeting with Bob Kiley. Reception with Mayor Wowereit at the ICA.
Super Tuesday is now hoving into view. Wowereit and I return to City Hall to greet the mayor of Paris as he steps out of his limousine. I take my counterparts up to the top floor of City Hall, to have our first formal dinner there.
All goes well, apart from the air-conditioning in the kitchen breaking down, leaving the chefs - literally - baking. Bob Kiley checks on the worsening climate in the kitchen. We resolve to sort this out for the next dinner, while offering our thanks to the sweltering kitchen staff.
Today is one huge coincidence: the Queen is officially opening City Hall; Transport for London begins its court case against the partial privatisation of the London Underground; and the Labour Party national executive committee is considering my application to rejoin the party.
The supporting signatories to my application - MPs, London Assembly members and trade unionists - are hopping mad that their statement has not been sent with the papers for the meeting. The lobbying has been so intense that I already have a fair idea that the vote will go against me.
It is a short walk to City Hall from London Bridge Tube, and the crowds are already gathering. I have met the Queen on many occasions, but acting as the host will be hard work.
I bring Her Majesty into the chamber, where an excellent school brass band has been entertaining the guests. Everything goes smoothly, although for those in the know, the national anthem gets played slightly too early in the proceedings. Someone's mobile goes off, thankfully not mine.
In her speech, the Queen emphasises the east-facing wing of the building, a reminder to mayor and assembly that we must meet the challenge of east London.
The royal party moves to the ninth floor. As I take the Queen around the room, journalists are frantically texting and phoning to find out the result of the NEC vote. At one point, a journalist texts one of my staff to see if there is news, only to discover that they are both in the same room.
Eventually, the news reaches my team - by text - but I am with the Queen and uncontactable. Only as we reach the ground floor, where the Queen is to meet the assembly members, can someone try to tell me the result. Not knowing that this is why my attention is being sought, I bring the whole party over, nearly ensuring that the Queen and the Duke are accidentally privy to hot political news. I am able to steer the royal party towards the assembly, and am told that my application has been lost by 17 votes to 13.
My figures for those who were solidly in favour of my application had been stuck on 12 for a week. Brian Coleman, the Tory assembly member for Barnet and Camden, is jubilant.
Later, I learn that Dennis Skinner has been put up by the party to defend the decision in the media. Others pragmatically voted in the interests of the party, including Tony Robinson and the Socialist Society's Dianne Hayter.
The Queen and the Duke depart after a walkabout. Everyone is delighted with the opening, apart from Eric Ollerenshaw, leader of the Tories on the assembly, who has been on the TV moaning about the building. I try to talk to Paul Waugh of the Independent, but we seem to spend most of our time getting in and out of lifts.
To the court. Very hot, lots of lawyers. On returning to my office, I find that Nicky Gavron, my deputy, has thrown her hat into the ring for the Labour nomination.
Her platform of urging Labour voters to cast their second preference for me would guarantee unity between Labour and myself against the Tories.
Finally, and with some fatigue, I take a delegation of my staff on the Jubilee Line over to Sartoria restaurant for dinner with Wowereit and Moscow's deputy mayor, Vladimir Resin. First to arrive is Nick Raynsford, who must be very proud that his hard work as minister for London has crystallised in the form of the official opening today. I am exhausted and leave by 10.30pm, but the Germans are still wide awake - on this occasion I have to leave them to it.
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