The Tories massacred Labour in the English and Welsh Local Elections on 1st May, inflicting Labour's heaviest defeat in Local Elections in 40 years.
London was no different. Almost 2.5 million Londoners (out of an electorate of almost 5.5 million people) voted in the London Mayoral Elections and ousted Ken Livingstone, a member of the Labour Party, as Mayor. Livingstone had been mayor since the year 2000.
The Tory, Boris Johnson, was elected as the new London Mayor, with 53% of the votes in the Final Round against Livingstone.
Altogether, 10 candidates ran for London Mayor.
Boris Johnson wins London mayoral race
BBC
FIRST PREFERENCE VOTES
Boris Johnson (Tory): 1,043,761
Ken Livingstone (Labour): 893,877
Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrats): 236,685
Sian Berry (Green): 77,374
Richard Barnbrook (BNP): 69,710
Alan Craig (Christian Choice): 39,249
Gerard Batten (UKIP): 22,422
Lindsey German (Left List): 16,796
Matt O'Connor (English Democrats): 10,695
Winston McKenzie (Independent): 5,389
SECOND PREFERENCE VOTES (FOR LIVINGSTONE AND JOHNSON ONLY)
BORIS JOHNSON - 257,792
KEN LIVINGSTONE - 303,198
TOTAL VOTES
BORIS JOHNSON - 1,168,738 (53%)
KEN LIVINGSTONE - 1,028,966 (47%)
TOTAL NUMBER OF LONDONERS WHO VOTED
2,456,990
New London Mayor, Boris Johnson, faces the media yesterday outside City Hall the morning after Londoners elected him
Boris Johnson has won the race to become the next mayor of London - ending Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign at City Hall.
The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966 on a record turnout of 45%.
He paid tribute to Mr Livingstone and appeared to offer him a possible role in his new administration.
Lib Dem Brian Paddick came third and the Greens' Sian Berry came fourth.
Mr Johnson is expected to stand down as MP for Henley, triggering a by-election.
'Exuberant nerve'
After signing his official declaration of office at City Hall, he urged people to help build upon the "very considerable achievements of the last mayor of London".
In his victory speech, he described Mr Livingstone as "a very considerable public servant".
He added: "You shaped the office of mayor. You gave it national prominence and when London was attacked on 7 July 2005 you spoke for London."
Mr Johnson also paid tribute to his "courage and the sheer exuberant nerve with which you stuck it to your enemies, especially in New Labour".
Mr Johnson told Mr Livingstone he hoped to "discover a way in which the mayoralty can continue to benefit from your transparent love of London".
He said he would work to earn the trust of those that had opposed him, or who had hesitated before voting for him.
"I will work flat out to repay and to justify your confidence. We have a new team ready to go into City Hall.
"Where there have been mistakes we will rectify them, where there are achievements we will build on them, where there are neglected opportunities we will seize on them."
Livingstone 'sorry'
He promised to focus on crime by promoting 24-hour policing, transport, including promoting cycling, green spaces, affordable homes and getting value for money for taxpayers.
Mr Johnson's victory crowns the Conservative Party's May Day local election wins in England and Wales.
He said he hoped it showed the party had changed "into a party that can be trusted after 30 years with the greatest, most cosmopolitan, multi-racial generous hearted city on earth".
IN HIS OWN WORDS
"Try as I might I could not look at an overhead projection of a growth-profit matrix and stay conscious" - on his week-long career in management consultancy
"Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3" - on the campaign trail in 2004
"If I was in charge I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like" - striking a blow for the right to eat pies at the 2006 Tory conference. He later described Oliver as a "national saint"
"I think if I made a huge effort always to have a snappy, inspiring soundbite on my lips, I think the sheer mental strain of that would be such that I would explode" - on his unique political style
"I think I was once given cocaine but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose. In fact, I may have been doing icing sugar" - after being questioned on Have I Got News for You about drug use
"I will add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology" - after suggesting the country was known for "chief-killing and cannibalism"
"I have not had an affair with Petronella. It is complete balderdash. It is an inverted pyramid of piffle" - on press reports of his relationship with Ms Wyatt
Mr Livingstone's defeat ended what Gordon Brown called a "bad" day for Labour, in which it suffered its worst council results for 40 years.
Asked by the BBC what his views were on the poor Labour showing, Mr Johnson said: "The smart thing for Labour to do would be to quietly to remove Gordon Brown and install [Foreign Secretary David] Miliband, is my view, but I don't think they'll do it."
In his speech after the result was declared at City Hall, Mr Livingstone thanked the Labour Party for all its help with his campaign.
"There is absolutely nothing that I could have asked from the Labour Party that it didn't throw into this election, from Gordon Brown right the way down to the newest recruit, handing out leaflets on very wet, cold days.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get an extra few points that would take us to victory and the fault for that is solely my own. You can't be mayor for eight years and then if you don't at third term say it was somebody else's fault. I accept that responsibility and I regret that I couldn't take you to victory."
However, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said Labour as a whole should shoulder the blame for Mr Livingstone's loss.
He told BBC News: "I disagree with Ken in one particular only, that we all share the responsibility for the defeat that he suffered yesterday."
Mr Straw admitted that the row over the 10p tax rate had left some voters "understandably very upset".
The government would get behind Londoners' decision at the polls, he added.
Conservative Party leader David Cameron praised Mr Johnson for a "serious and energetic campaign" and said his party was "winning the battle of ideas".
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick paid tribute to Ken Livingstone as "an amazing mayor" and indicated that he would not be interested in working with Mr Johnson.
He said he would be talking to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg about his future and what he could do for the party.
news.bbc.co.uk
London was no different. Almost 2.5 million Londoners (out of an electorate of almost 5.5 million people) voted in the London Mayoral Elections and ousted Ken Livingstone, a member of the Labour Party, as Mayor. Livingstone had been mayor since the year 2000.
The Tory, Boris Johnson, was elected as the new London Mayor, with 53% of the votes in the Final Round against Livingstone.
Altogether, 10 candidates ran for London Mayor.
Boris Johnson wins London mayoral race
BBC
FIRST PREFERENCE VOTES
Boris Johnson (Tory): 1,043,761
Ken Livingstone (Labour): 893,877
Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrats): 236,685
Sian Berry (Green): 77,374
Richard Barnbrook (BNP): 69,710
Alan Craig (Christian Choice): 39,249
Gerard Batten (UKIP): 22,422
Lindsey German (Left List): 16,796
Matt O'Connor (English Democrats): 10,695
Winston McKenzie (Independent): 5,389
SECOND PREFERENCE VOTES (FOR LIVINGSTONE AND JOHNSON ONLY)
BORIS JOHNSON - 257,792
KEN LIVINGSTONE - 303,198
TOTAL VOTES
BORIS JOHNSON - 1,168,738 (53%)
KEN LIVINGSTONE - 1,028,966 (47%)
TOTAL NUMBER OF LONDONERS WHO VOTED
2,456,990
New London Mayor, Boris Johnson, faces the media yesterday outside City Hall the morning after Londoners elected him
Boris Johnson has won the race to become the next mayor of London - ending Ken Livingstone's eight-year reign at City Hall.
The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966 on a record turnout of 45%.
He paid tribute to Mr Livingstone and appeared to offer him a possible role in his new administration.
Lib Dem Brian Paddick came third and the Greens' Sian Berry came fourth.
Mr Johnson is expected to stand down as MP for Henley, triggering a by-election.
'Exuberant nerve'
After signing his official declaration of office at City Hall, he urged people to help build upon the "very considerable achievements of the last mayor of London".
In his victory speech, he described Mr Livingstone as "a very considerable public servant".
He added: "You shaped the office of mayor. You gave it national prominence and when London was attacked on 7 July 2005 you spoke for London."
Mr Johnson also paid tribute to his "courage and the sheer exuberant nerve with which you stuck it to your enemies, especially in New Labour".
Mr Johnson told Mr Livingstone he hoped to "discover a way in which the mayoralty can continue to benefit from your transparent love of London".
He said he would work to earn the trust of those that had opposed him, or who had hesitated before voting for him.
"I will work flat out to repay and to justify your confidence. We have a new team ready to go into City Hall.
"Where there have been mistakes we will rectify them, where there are achievements we will build on them, where there are neglected opportunities we will seize on them."
Livingstone 'sorry'
He promised to focus on crime by promoting 24-hour policing, transport, including promoting cycling, green spaces, affordable homes and getting value for money for taxpayers.
Mr Johnson's victory crowns the Conservative Party's May Day local election wins in England and Wales.
He said he hoped it showed the party had changed "into a party that can be trusted after 30 years with the greatest, most cosmopolitan, multi-racial generous hearted city on earth".
"Try as I might I could not look at an overhead projection of a growth-profit matrix and stay conscious" - on his week-long career in management consultancy
"Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3" - on the campaign trail in 2004
"If I was in charge I would get rid of Jamie Oliver and tell people to eat what they like" - striking a blow for the right to eat pies at the 2006 Tory conference. He later described Oliver as a "national saint"
"I think if I made a huge effort always to have a snappy, inspiring soundbite on my lips, I think the sheer mental strain of that would be such that I would explode" - on his unique political style
"I think I was once given cocaine but I sneezed and so it did not go up my nose. In fact, I may have been doing icing sugar" - after being questioned on Have I Got News for You about drug use
"I will add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology" - after suggesting the country was known for "chief-killing and cannibalism"
"I have not had an affair with Petronella. It is complete balderdash. It is an inverted pyramid of piffle" - on press reports of his relationship with Ms Wyatt
Mr Livingstone's defeat ended what Gordon Brown called a "bad" day for Labour, in which it suffered its worst council results for 40 years.
Asked by the BBC what his views were on the poor Labour showing, Mr Johnson said: "The smart thing for Labour to do would be to quietly to remove Gordon Brown and install [Foreign Secretary David] Miliband, is my view, but I don't think they'll do it."
In his speech after the result was declared at City Hall, Mr Livingstone thanked the Labour Party for all its help with his campaign.
"There is absolutely nothing that I could have asked from the Labour Party that it didn't throw into this election, from Gordon Brown right the way down to the newest recruit, handing out leaflets on very wet, cold days.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get an extra few points that would take us to victory and the fault for that is solely my own. You can't be mayor for eight years and then if you don't at third term say it was somebody else's fault. I accept that responsibility and I regret that I couldn't take you to victory."
However, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said Labour as a whole should shoulder the blame for Mr Livingstone's loss.
He told BBC News: "I disagree with Ken in one particular only, that we all share the responsibility for the defeat that he suffered yesterday."
Mr Straw admitted that the row over the 10p tax rate had left some voters "understandably very upset".
The government would get behind Londoners' decision at the polls, he added.
Conservative Party leader David Cameron praised Mr Johnson for a "serious and energetic campaign" and said his party was "winning the battle of ideas".
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick paid tribute to Ken Livingstone as "an amazing mayor" and indicated that he would not be interested in working with Mr Johnson.
He said he would be talking to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg about his future and what he could do for the party.
news.bbc.co.uk