Criticism of Livingstone by the Evening Standard intensified during the 2008 campaign, with daily front page articles attacking him, under the direction of editor Veronica Wadley who originally urged Johnson to stand and who is closely linked to Tory leadership. According to articles in The Guardian and Time Out London, she is strongly influenced by the need to renew Associated Newspaper's multi-million pound contract to deliver the Metro free paper in London Underground stations in 2010, a decision within the gift of the Mayor.