Boris sings London's praises - citing King's Speech as an example

From the other side, NYC's deputy mayor Howard Wolfson claimed his city boasted 1.5 billion underground trips a year, compared with just a billion in London, and far more - and cheaper - office space.

Last night's debate was billed as the "Battle of the Giants" for the crown of the best city in the world. London won by a clear show of hands, but the playing field was far from level.

For a start the venue was City Hall near Tower Bridge, so Boris was at home. And the audience was made up of sharp-suited London business folk, mostly male and mostly from the property world.

Boris was ably assisted by Tim Campbell, the first winner of The Apprentice, who is the Mayor's Ambassador for Training and Enterprise. Wolfson, deputy mayor for Government Affairs was supported by, Robert Steel deputy for Economic Development.

Both came to London for 24 hours to attend the debate - but Boris's counterpart, multi-billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, stayed on the other side of the Atlantic.

Steel began by saying he had lived in London for seven years, to which Boris replied that he was born in New York. Steel then sang the praises of the absent Bloomberg, describing the massive strides his city had made since the tragedy of 9/11.

"Bloomberg believes that talent attracts business, not the other way round", he said. "New York is a magnet for the world's brightest and best".

Former CNN presenter Todd Benjamin said London was ahead in all sectors of financial services companies - except for law firms.

Steel retorted that NYC was diversifying into healthcare, hi-tech and applied sciences.
Boris mentioned London's 325,000 employees in financial services against NYC's 319,000.

But when he mentioned London's location as an intermediate time zone between East West, Steel said we were living in a 24-hour world where time zones were irrelevant.

Seeing the eurozone crisis as a weak spot, Boris insisted Britain's membership of the EU was "neutral" as an economic factor.

But Wolfson was applauded - and even Boris nodded in support - when he said "I'd certainly rather that our regulators speak our own language and speak it in our own country."

He also defended Manhattan's grid-iron streets, but Boris stood valiantly up for London's more characterful - of confusing - street patterns.
When Steel mentioned NYC's manufacturing industry's, Boris revealed that London "makes every single chocolate hobnob to the world", adding "We even exported Piers Morgan to New York!"

When asked what they loved best about their cities, the Americans said it was "freedom and tolerance". Boris said it was Londoners' "good humoured, bogus self-deprecation".

The event, which was moderated by the Today Programme's Sarah Montague, raised £50,000 for LandAid, the property industry charity dedicated to helping the disadvantaged young realise their potential.