Crash and Burn

London Mayor, “Red Ken” Livingstone, was upended in yesterday’s re-election attempt, completing a nightmare day for Gordon Brown’s Labour Party.

Boris Johnson is the new Mayor of London, his rivals conceded tonight.

The Tory MP scored a stunning election victory to end Ken Livingstone’s eight-year reign and round off a disastrous 24 hours for the Labour Party.

After a nailbiting count, Mr Johnson was so far ahead on first-preference votes he could not be caught by Mr Livingstone, even after second preferences were taken into account.

Labour officials conceded privately that the Conservative was too far ahead. At 5pm, Mr Livingstone’s campaign chief Tessa Jowell said: “The reports I’m getting suggest Boris Johnson is ahead. link

It was a stunning election day in Britain, as Labour stumbled to its worst showing in 40 years.

See Also:

• From bumbling Boris to natural born winner
• Mayor Boris says he’s chairman of the board. They’d better be good
• Canny Ken was outwitted in the end by an even cannier enemy
• Evening Standard comment: Now the hard work starts for Johnson
• Boris Johnson’s winning manifesto
• Boris Johnson’s CV
• Australian was power behind team Boris, and let’s not forget Marina