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Boris Johnson wins London mayoral race

by Amy Judd | May 2, 2008 at 03:12 pm

469 views | 15 Recommendations | 5 comments

Eccentric Boris Johnson will be the next mayor of London, ending Ken Livingstone's eight-year term in City Hall.

The Conservative candidate won with 1,168,738 first and second preference votes, compared with Mr Livingstone's 1,028,966.

Mr Johnson thanked his family, party activists for their help in a "marathon election".

He is expected to stand down as MP for Henley, triggering a by-election.

He paid tribute to Mr Livingstone for shaping the office of mayor and speaking for London after the 7 July bombings in London, saying he had the "thanks and admiration of millions of Londoners".

Mr Johnson's victory crowns the party's May Day local election wins in England and Wales. He said he hoped it showed the Conservatives had changed "into a party that can be trusted".

Mr Livingstone's defeat ends what Gordon Brown has called as a "bad" day for Labour in which it suffered its worst council results for 40 years.

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recommend This comment thread is now closed

Amy Judd

at 15:17 on May 2nd, 2008

It will now show up on the home page for four hours. If new developments justify it, I'll renew this flag for another cycle.

Albert Milliron

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 19:01 on May 2nd, 2008

amyjudd, so a conservative in London, wow

Amy Judd

at 22:16 on May 2nd, 2008

I'm removing the urgent flag for this story for the time being. I

Beaulieu

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 00:14 on May 3rd, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. I heard it first on here

Jordan Yerman

at 10:01 on May 3rd, 2008

Update:

London's new mayor Boris Johnson today pledged to "lead the fightback" against violent crime in the capital as he signed the declaration of acceptance of his new role.

Mr Johnson, who defeated Labour's Ken Livingstone by six points last night to become mayor, said that the number one issue facing London was the "tragically self-destructive" behaviour of some of its young children.

He also pledged to make good on campaign promises to build affordable homes, improve bus services and crack down on minor crime on public transport.