The Times is the latest newspaper to allege corruption in the office of Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor whose bid for re-election to a thrid term is just weeks away.

Today’s paper claims that documents passed to its reporters prove that Livingtone’s staff were told to carry out campaign work on his behalf during office hours – in contravention of London Authority rules.

The London Evening Standard has published a raft of stories in recent months by reporter Andrew Gilligan, who wrote in a Press Gazette article recently that most investigations spend months being ignored by other media before breaking through.