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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Digby rubbishes Tory mayor claim | Digby rubbishes Tory mayor claim |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Labour minister Sir Digby Jones has described as "rubbish" claims he approached the Conservatives about standing as their mayoral candidate. | Labour minister Sir Digby Jones has described as "rubbish" claims he approached the Conservatives about standing as their mayoral candidate. |
| He said he had a conversation with Tory leader David Cameron two months ago about next year's mayoral contest. | He said he had a conversation with Tory leader David Cameron two months ago about next year's mayoral contest. |
| But he said he would only consider standing as an independent - not as a member of the Conservative Party. | But he said he would only consider standing as an independent - not as a member of the Conservative Party. |
| The former CBI chief has since been made a Labour trade minister but has refused to join the Labour party. | |
| Earlier, a Tory spokesman said it was Sir Digby who had initially approached the Conservatives about the prospect of becoming their mayoral candidate. | |
| This group of businessmen rang me up and I said I would think about it as an independent Sir Digby Jones | |
| But Sir Digby denied this. He told the BBC he had initially been sounded out about the possibility of entering the mayoral contest by business contacts. | |
| "This group of businessmen rang me up and I said I would think about it as an independent," he said. | |
| He said he was then telephoned by Mr Cameron over the May Bank Holiday weekend - just over a week after former BBC director general Greg Dyke rejected a Tory approach over the mayoral race. | |
| 'Fabulous' | |
| Mr Cameron told Sir Digby it would be "fabulous" if he became the party's candidate, the former CBI chief said. | |
| But he also made it clear Sir Digby would have to join the Tory party if he wanted to be their candidate. | |
| Sir Digby said he replied "categorically not...and on that basis, it all went very quiet". | |
| Digby clearly believes that the nation is best served by working as a minister in Gordon Brown's government. Labour spokesman | |
| Sir Digby is one of a string of non-Labour figures to be drafted into Gordon Brown's first government. | |
| He is to be made a peer and will sit on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. He will also be expected to vote with Labour peers but he has refused to join the party. | |
| Labour 'disquiet' | |
| He has upset some in the Labour ranks after saying he hoped the party would become "less in thrall" to the unions. | |
| At a regular meeting of Labour peers on Wednesday night there was "a lot of disquiet" expressed about his appointment, BBC Newsnight's Michael Crick reported. | |
| But Labour has seized on Sir Digby's apparent rejection of Mr Cameron to attack the party over its quest to find a well-known candidate to take on Labour's Ken Livingstone in London next year. | |
| 'Long line' | |
| A Labour spokesman said: "Digby is one in a long line of people linked with the Tories' desperate search to find someone who wants to be their candidate for London mayor. | |
| "Digby clearly believes that the nation is best served by working as a minister in Gordon Brown's government." | |
| Tory higher education spokesman Boris Johnson is the latest figure to be linked with the Tory mayoral candidacy, although the party still plans to push ahead with a series of public votes over the final decision. | |
| Applications to be the Tory candidate have to be in by 16 July. |