Johnson wins mayoral race

Boris Johnson has won the London mayoral election, bringing Ken Livingstone's eight year reign in the city to an end.

The Conservative candidate benefited from a large turnout in the capital's outer suburbs to win by 1,168,738 votes (53 per cent) to the two-term Labour incumbent's 1,028,966 (47 per cent) after the second preference votes of the other candidates had been redistributed.

Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick came in third, the Green's Sian Berry fourth and the BNP's Richard Barnbrook fifth.

But the two-horse race between Johnson and Livingstone expected by most experts clearly materialised.

Johnson won 1,043,761 first preference votes (43 per cent) to Livingstone's 893,877 (37 per cent) and Paddick's 236,685.

Of the second preference transfers, 124,977 went to Johnson and 135,089 to Livingstone.

The full first round results were:

• Boris Johnson - Conservatives 104,3761
• Ken Livingstone - Labour 893,877
• Brian Paddick - Liberal Democrats 236,685
• Sian Berry - Green Party 77,374
• Richard Barnbrook - BNP 69,710
• Alan Craig - Christian Choice 39,249
• Gerard Batten - UKIP 22,422
• Lindsey German - Left List party 16,796
• Matt O'Connor - English Democrats 10,695
• Winston McKenzie - Independent 5,389

In his acceptance speech Johnson paid tribute to Livingstone as a "very considerable public servant and a distinguished leader of this city".

He also told former police commander Paddick that: "I hope this isn't the end of our discussions about the police."

Livingstone refused to blame Gordon Brown or the Labour government for his defeat, saying "the fault is solely mine".

Conservative leader David Cameron described the result, which came at the end of a stunning series of local election results for the Tories, as "brilliant".

Voters were on Thursday also choosing representatives to sit on the London Assembly, holding the mayor to account and examining key strategies which are important to the capital.

In the first-past-the-post section of that ballot, the Conservatives won in eight out of 14 constituencies and Labour in six.