Jubilant Boris Johnson was today celebrating being elected Mayor of London, as Labour continued to count the cost of their worst results at the polls for decades.

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The charismatic Conservative candidate seized City Hall from Labour’s two-term incumbent Ken Livingstone with Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick in third place.

Mr Johnson polled 1,168,738 votes to Mr Livingstone’s 1,028,966. After second preferences were allocated, Mr Johnson achieved around 53 per cent to Mr Livingstone’s 47 per cent.

The result was announced at around midnight and heaped further pressure on Gordon Brown after his party plunged to its worst council election results in four decades. Mr Johnson, who worked at the Express & Star in Wolverhampton in 1988, is the first Conservative mayor since the post was created.

Mr Livingstone proved unable to buck the national trend and suffered from a string of negative headlines and allegations of sleaze.

Mr Johnson thanked his team and heaped praise on his opponents. He appeared to offer a possible role for Ken Livingstone in his new administration before pledging to make greater London “greater still”.

He added: “I was elected as new Boris and I will govern as new Boris. I will be very proud if in four year’s time we have achieved a significant reduction in crime. Boot me out with gusto if we have not pulled that off.”

He finished his speech with the words: “Let’s get cracking tomorrow – let’s have a drink tonight.”

Mr Livingstone said it was his own fault that he hadn’t won and now intends to sign a lucrative book deal for his memoirs.

Conservative leader David Cameron hailed a “remarkable” victory.