David Cameron hails Boris Johnson's London mayoral win

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is "delighted" with Boris Johnson's re-election as London mayor. He said the Conservative candidate fought "a very strong campaign", and "now what matters is working together for the good of London". Mr Johnson outperformed his party as a whole in the local elections, but said the mayoral election was simply "a contest between two propositions". The Tories suffered heavy losses, with Labour seizing control of 32 councils. Mr Johnson was sworn in at City Hall at short time ago and thanked "the people of London for giving me a second mandate".

Second preferences

The mayoral contest was much closer than many people had expected. Mr Johnson gained 44% of first preference votes, to Ken Livingstone's 40.3%. After second preferences came into play, Mr Johnson gained a total of 1,054,811 votes, or 51.5%, to the Labour candidate's 48.5%. It had been a long night and Boris Johnson arrived at City Hall this morning looking slightly dishevelled (though perhaps no more than usual) next to the immaculately turned out David Cameron. But there was no doubt who was the man of the moment - Boris had narrowly beaten Ken Livingstone, but however narrow the margin, it was a sweet victory for the Conservatives after an otherwise dismal election showing. So, just how did Boris pull it off? There's no doubt personality came into it - he has a very big one. He also has charisma and humour which gives him a popularity that crosses party divides. Even some of those in London who would normally vote Labour said they didn't like Ken so decided to vote for Boris. There's no doubt he's posh, but somehow he manages to cross the class divide in a way that David Cameron and George Osborne can't seem to. The message from the mayor and prime minister is they're united and they'll work together for the good of London, but that won't stop the questions about whether he'll one day stand for the Tory leadership. For now, Boris says no. But his own father today said: "This is a man who has surprised everybody on every occasion and there may be one big surprise left." Lib Dem Brian Paddick saw his vote collapse and he was beaten into fourth place by Green Jenny Jones, with independent Siobhan Benita fifth. Speaking at City Hall on Saturday, Mr Cameron said: "I think it was a very strong campaign by Boris. It was based on his record, on the excellent things he has done as mayor and I am delighted to congratulate him.

Mr Johnson said it was "a hard-fought, long campaign" and he was "grateful" to the Conservative Party for supporting him.

"I think we were able to reach people across the city with a message which resonated with them in tough times." (BBC News)