LEON HAWTHORNE: The allure of London! Today, the biggest show in town is not in the West End, it's a political drama being played out in the London Labour Party. It looks set to rival an age old story of another campaign to be Mayor that's currently being rehearsed in time for a Christmas pantomime. ACTUALITY: "Look! In the distance! You can see the roofs of London! Ah, London: city of my dreams at last!" HAWTHORNE: Dick Whittington had his first glimpse of the capital from here on Highgate Hill. The local MP, Glenda Jackson, also has a dream of becoming Mayor of London. The problem is - in the race to be Labour's candidate, it's hard to see where she'll get support. Frank Dobson has leadership backing. Ken Livingstone is the popular favourite. Whereas Glenda - well, some believe she shouldn't be in the race, at all. JIM DICKSON: She doesn't really have the clout, the contacts or the personality to really achieve the turnaround that a London Mayor has to achieve. TONY TRAVERS: It's by no means clear why Glenda Jackson wants to be mayor. It's not something that she's been saying for years she wants to do and I don't think she's really developed really a major platform or set of policies for London. GLENDA JACKSON PLAYING ELIZABETH I: I have had good experience and trial of this world. I know what it is to be a sovereign, what to be a subject. HAWTHORNE: Glenda Jackson is used to taking on powerful roles. As a serious actress, she won two Oscars and countless other awards. And her television appearances established her as one of the nation's favourite performers. At the age of 55, she turned her back on a successful career and entered parliament. But since becoming MP for Hampstead and Highgate, some believe she hasn't shown the same star quality on the political stage. TRAVERS: Glenda Jackson was Transport Minister for London. Undoubtedly a thankless task, given the dilapidated nature of much of the capital's transport system. But even aiming off from that difficulty, there's no doubt many of the people who came into contact with her during her period as minister did not always find her the most easy person to deal with. And crucially, over the period she was minister, not much was delivered, by way of improvement of public transport in the capital and that's undoubtedly going to weigh against her, somewhat, when it comes to a run off to try to become Labour's candidate for Mayor. PANTO DAME SINGS: Don't you worry, little miss, for I am not a fool.... HAWTHORNE: Like the panto dame in the Theatre Royal Stratford East production, London Mayor is a big job for a big character. But Glenda Jackson's limited political experience and the absence of a solid power base within the Party damage her chances of becoming London's leading lady. DICKSON: I have to say talking to active members of the party here in Lambeth and talking to members of the party in London widely, her campaign really isn't showing up on the radar. She's not pulling in the votes, she's not pulling in support and I think the most sensible thing she can do, given that we are now down to pretty much a two horse race between a constructive candidate who will benefit London and one who, I believe, is a nostalgia candidate is to pull out. HAWTHORNE: But Glenda's determined not to abandon the stage. So, the Labour leadership's working away behind the scenes to ensure victory for their man. Glenda's presence, however, complicates the simple good guy, bad guy message. If the Blairite vote goes to Frank Dobson, the only hope for Glenda Jackson is to try to appeal to those on the Left of the party and those who want an independent minded mayor. But those voters see little evidence Glenda Jackson is willing to stand up for Londoners where this may involve conflict with the government. LIZ DAVIES: There have been a number of key issues in parliament since the Labour government was elected in 1997 that have been New Labour policies that have been very unpopular with Londoners and indeed with the rest of the country - the cuts in incapacity benefit recently, the cuts in lone parent benefit two years ago and indeed the Asylum Bill which has generated a great deal of opposition. Glenda Jackson has not been part of that opposition at all. She has not voted against any of those measures, measures that effect the poor and working class and that does leave the question of if she became mayor whether she would see her priority as representing Londoners to the government or sadly the other way round as representing the views of government to Londoners. HAWTHORNE: Actors prepare for the big fight scene. Rather like the expected clash between Mayor and government over London's Underground. As Transport Minister, Glenda Jackson lost the battle with the Treasury for more money and was forced to settle for Public Private Partnerships - PPP - which many see as partial privatisation. As a result, the train drivers union, ASLEF, which used to sponsor Jackson, refuses to back her for Mayor. Members are being balloted, with union bosses recommending support for Ken Livingstone. MICK RIX: We feel that Ken has an enormous amount of experience. He was the former leader of the GLC, he's got good policies on transport and other issues to do with economics that can provide the regeneration for London. We don't believe that Glenda shares those same views. I mean she shares the view of the government at the moment of partial privatisation of the Underground. She also has a belief in some respects of bus substitution of services that has been made once or twice, which is not the viewpoint of this trade union. HAWTHORNE: If Labour's Selection Panel constructs a plan to prevent Ken Livingstone from standing, Glenda hopes she would attract his supporters. However, many believe if Ken is forced off stage, there's no-one else who can fill his role. DAVIES: I'm a supporter of Ken Livingstone. If he's not allowed to stand in the selection then I can't see myself supporting either Frank Dobson or Glenda Jackson. Despite the fact that Glenda has shown some independence in keeping her hat in the ring in this selection when a number of other candidates have pulled out, if you read her manifesto then the contents of it will be entirely acceptable to new Labour. GLENDA JACKSON ON MORECAMBE AND WISE: All men are fools, and what makes them so is having beauty like what I have got. HAWTHORNE: With Glenda choosing to stick to the government scripts, Labour voters are asking - does she stand for anything distinctive in the race to be Mayor? They want to know which audience she's trying to attract? TRAVERS: Glenda Jackson originally positioned herself as a party loyalist, particularly in her support for the public private partnership for reinvesting in the Underground. Unfortunately for her, Frank Dobson then joined the race and he clearly has the support of the party leadership, so she's left in the position of sort of Party loyalist but without the support of the leadership to whom she's loyal. Worse than that, from her point of view, because she supports this public private partnership which is very unpopular with the unions, she probably wouldn't do very well with their votes so Ken Livingstone would do relatively well compared with her there. So she's slightly awkwardly positioned between the two of them. DICKSON: It's not clear what she stands for, it's not clear what purpose she's serving in the race and certainly I think the advice of most London council leaders would be that she should get out of the race, declare for Frank and make sure we get Frank as the candidate the wider Labour movement needs to take on Jeffrey Archer and make sure we win the Mayoralty in May 2000. HAWTHORNE: Six hundred years ago Dick Whittington was thrice elected Mayor of London. Today, the odds are against Glenda Jackson winning that office. Her critics say she should let someone else play the starring role.