Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson in war of words over Tube chaos

A new war of words broke out today over the Tube as mayoral rivals Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone blamed each other for the state of the service.

Mr Livingstone attacked the Mayor, publishing a "diary of shame" listing the daily problems suffered by commuters since the start of last month.

Mr Johnson hit back claiming he watched the Tube "like a hawk". The row came as tens of thousands of commuters suffered yet more disruption today when three separate signals failures caused delays to the

District, Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines. Launching the "get-a-grip" publication, Mr Livingstone, joined by Val Shawcross, the Labour London Assembly transport spokeswoman, said: "A combination of over-running repairs, cracks on the lines, signal failures and faulty trains have caused misery for millions of commuters."

The former Mayor added: "Londoners are fed up with the daily delays on the Tube. Boris Johnson said he had ordered Transport for London to pull their socks up' and said he was fuming with exasperation'. However, the delays and disruption have continued and Londoners continue to suffer daily delays and chaos."

The criticism was rejected by Mr Johnson as "easy rhetoric". He said the former mayor was responsible for Tube finances "spiralling over budget".

The Mayor also blamed much of the problems on the legacy of the failed part-privatisation under which large sections of the network was hived off to the private sector on 30-year leases — contracts which have now been taken back into public ownership.

Transport adviser Kulveer Rangersaid: "We utterly reject the easy rhetoric and gall of the former Mayor who refused to condemn recent strikes and left behind a gaping black hole in finances as well as Tube upgrades that were spiralling over budget and over time."