Comment: London's choice: Boris Johnson

If Mr Johnson does win, it will vindicate a tightly focused and energetic campaign. He has concentrated on crime; polls suggest this is indeed one of the top two key issues for voters, along with transport. But Mr Johnson also developed sensible policies on transport, the environment and planning. He has not made the gaffes that many predicted. His campaign has proved him a serious candidate.

Ken Livingstone, by contrast, has fought a lacklustre campaign that has often looked tired. But above all, he has been weakened by the same faults that have damaged his credibility all along. His pledges on transport are hard to take from a Mayor who broke his promises on not raising the congestion charge and public transport fares. He undermined his talk of regeneration with his admission that he deliberately sought to "ensnare" the Government into paying for the Olympics by setting the original bid too low.

These two campaigns reveal strikingly different visions for London. Mr Johnson's campaign has been inclusive, reaching out to the suburbs, some of which Mr Livingstone has hardly visited as Mayor. Mr Livingstone insists on pushing ahead with the proposed £25 congestion charge on larger cars, a thinly veiled piece of class warfare out of the old GLC mould; his opponent has pledged to scrap the idea. Mr Johnson has eschewed the divisive interestgroup politics that have characterised Mr Livingstone's time in office, while the Mayor has continued to woo sectional ethnic and religious groups with the help of organisations such as Muslims 4 Ken.

This paper believes that the key issues in this contest are honesty and competence. On both, Mr Livingstone falls down badly. His broken promises and the irregularities surrounding some of his closest associates - exposed by our reporting - show that he cannot be trusted to maintain the standards of integrity that his office demands.

Boris Johnson can offer London a fresh vision. He has mastered the complexities of London's government to come up with policies that offer a real alternative to those of Mr Livingstone. He has the intelligence and honesty to redeem the office of Mayor. He has assembled a talented team and commands loyalty among those around him; in office he would retain those with expertise and talent at City Hall. And he has the openness and affability to have good relations with the city as a whole. He should be Londoners' choice for Mayor today.