Norris wipes smile off the Mayor's face

For four years, his face has beamed out at Londoners from posters, buses and the internet.

But now Ken Livingstone's trademark grin is to be removed from all City Hall publicity in the run-up to the mayoral election.

It follows a complaint from his Tory rival, Steve Norris, that Mr Livingstone is using publicly funded material to boost his campaign.

The chief executive of the Greater London Authority, who is responsible for the 10 June poll, has ruled that Mr Livingstone's image should be removed from the GLA's london.gov.uk website.

All mention and images of Mr Livingstone have also been removed from the new edition of free newspaper The Londoner, and no more editions will be published until after the election.

But existing publicity material bearing Mr Livingstone's name will not be recalled, and he may still be allowed to feature personally in any promotion of London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

In a letter to Mr Norris, GLA chief executive Anthony Mayer said the restrictions would begin on 5 May, five weeks before polling.

But Mr Norris said he thought they should come into force three months before the election.

He added: "The GLA is not an organ for the self promotion of Ken Livingstone. It's a public body designed to provide services for Londoners."