Boris Johnson was celebrating tonight after pulling off one of the most spectacular transformations in political history.

The new Mayor turned the capital Conservative blue for the first time in almost 30 years, giving his national party a massive boost.

He defied those who had written him off as bumbling and incompetent as he captured London from Ken Livingstone.

Mr Johnson paid generous tribute to his defeated rival for putting London on the map and for helping win the 2012 Olympics and Crossrail.

His victory was felt particularly keenly at Westminster where Labour MPs were still coming to terms with losing nearly 300 council seats nationwide in its worst town hall results for 40 years.

For David Cameron it capped a triumphant day that saw the Tories surge to an election-winning 44 per cent share of the vote.

Mr Livingstone was among the first to recognise the formerly gaffe-prone Mr Johnson as a serious mayoral rival. He warned early on he faced "the fight of his political life".

The Tories fought an impressive campaign, which even the outgoing Mayor conceded by the end.

Often "under the radar", the messages were targeted at local newspapers and through leafleting across the city, with Mr Johnson appearing regularly in the outer boroughs, on several occasions alongside his party leader.

The sheer force of his personality and his ability to rally the Tory for several months to do his homework on the key issues facing London.

But eventually demands of "Where's Boris?" in Tory circles grew to a clamour and the MP was forced to show his face.

At the turn of the year, Mr Johnson was suddenly back in the headlines with the appointment of political strategist Lynton Crosby. He bought a suit, visited a hairdresser and stopped telling jokes as the new, serious Boris emerged.

At a series of slick launches he began setting out his policies on crime, transport and housing and promised a fresh, transparent approach to City Hall.

Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick put up a good show and fulfilled leader Nick Clegg's aim of presenting a fresh face to the public and confounding perceptions that the party was soft on crime.

He appealed to voters fed up with the "Ken and Boris" show, but he was crowded out by his big box-office rivals.

Mr Johnson's status as the candidate of change solidified after Mr Livingstone's race adviser Lee Jasper finally resigned at the start of March.

Only days later the first YouGov poll for the Evening Standard put the Conservative candidate 12 points ahead of his Labour rival on first preferences, a result which finally persuaded the Labour Party and the wider public that he should be taken seriously.

But Mr Johnson's campaign was not all plain sailing. His YouGov poll lead was cut in half several weeks ago.

Although he avoided making any major gaffes, he was haunted by his journalism, in which he had described black children as "piccaninnies" with "watermelon smiles" and criticised the Kyoto climate change agreement.

Questions were also asked about his competence when he had to admit his policy of replacing bendy buses with a new generation of Routemasters would cost about £100 million, not £8 million as he had claimed for weeks.

But by last week Mr Johnson was back on top - after dipping in the polls he was put 11 points ahead.

In the final days before polling, he looked positively relaxed as the message came back that the Conservative vote was "solid". This morning he went jogging with his wife Marina while the counting of votes began.

He remained cautious about the outcome but his backers were confident. As his lead built up in early results his campaign team put the champagne on ice. Tonight the party was just starting.

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