Comment: a new broom in City Hall

Mr Johnson has already appointed a new cultural adviser, Munira Mirza, and a planning adviser, former Westminster council leader Sir Simon Milton. Mr Johnson is quite justified in extending his grip over City Hall in this way - a well-run mayoralty needs professionals to make it work. Apart from clearing out the ideological dead wood, however, he will need to prove that his new appointments provide better value for money for Londoners.

On this score, the Mayor has made a positive start, deploying his Olympics adviser, David Ross, to address the lack of legacy planning for the Games and a rescue package for the Olympic village.

Mr Johnson will doubtless find that saving money by chopping schemes and personnel beloved of his predecessor is the easy part of his job. The new administration has already run up relatively high transition costs which the new Mayor has incurred by paying interim staff until new appointments can be found. It is the first time the office, which has only existed for eight years, has changed hands and there needs to be a review of how transitions can be carried out more smoothly in future.

After campaigning against Mr Livingstone's reliance upon a culture of cronyism, with disastrous effects at the London Development Agency, Mr Johnson must ensure that the team he has brought in is both efficient - and unlike his predecessor's court - accountable to those it serves.