Johnson in London 2012 pledge

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Mr Johnson said he was determined that the London Games would come in under the £9.3 billion budget allocated for them but would be "just as fantastic" as the extravaganza in China.

Speaking from Beijing, where the Olympics will be handed over to the capital, the mayor said officials were looking at "economising" but said there would be no difficulty in meeting the budget.

He told BBC2's Newsnight: "These have been an absolutely fantastic games and there's no doubt that in terms of performance and theatre the Chinese have set the bar pretty high.

"But I think with British ingenuity, wit and all the rest of it, resourcefulness, we are going to produce a games - an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony and all the stuff in between - that is going to be, in our own sweet way, just as fantastic."

He added: "I am absolutely determined that we come in under the £9.3 billion. I have no reason to think that we will have any difficulty in doing that.

"We are looking at ways of economising, finding ways of moving things around, perhaps, but in no way do I want to prejudice the legacy value of the Olympics."

Mr Johnson said he would "ensure that London's taxpayers and indeed British taxpayers do not pay a penny more".

The Conservative mayor this week put himself at odds with party leader David Cameron by by flatly rejecting his claim that Britain was a "broken society".

Mr Johnson branded the mantra - regularly used by the Tory leader to attack Labour - "piffle" and insisted that the success of young Britons at the Olympics proved the criticisms were wrong.