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The Conservative Party's Boris Johnson on Friday ousted Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone to become London's new mayor, results showed, in a strategic blow for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Brown, in his first major electoral test since taking over from Tony Blair last June, had been hoping to hang on to the political prize of running the capital after a drubbing in local polls in England and Wales.
But final results showed that 43-year-old Johnson, despite being written off as a "joke", beat left-winger Livingstone, 62, by a total of 139,772 votes, dumping him out of City Hall after eight years.
Turn-out was relatively high at some 45 percent, compared with about 37 percent at the last such polls in 2004.
Despite an often bad-tempered campaign, Johnson paid tribute to Livingstone in his acceptance speech as a "considerable public servant and a distinguished leader of this city", particularly after the July 7, 2005 suicide bomb attacks.
On his own polling success, he added: "I do not for one minute believe that this election shows that London has been transformed overnight into a Conservative city.
"But I do hope it does show that the Conservatives have changed into a party that can again be trusted."
To those who did not vote for him, he said: "I will work flat out from now on to earn your trust and to dispel some of the myths that have created about me.
To those who voted for him, he added: "I will work flat out to repay and to justify your confidence."
For his part, Livingstone said he had been proud to serve and offered the new mayor his help, if required.
"But in whatever role, I will continue, whilst I live and breath, to live in this city and love in this city, to work to make it better," he added.
Johnson's win puts him in charge of London's 11-billion-pound (14-billion-euro, 21.7-billion-dollar) annual budget for public transport, emergency services, housing, the environment and economy.
"Boris" as he is almost universally known will be London's first Tory mayor since the post was set up in 2000 and the British capital's face to the world in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games.
His victory topped off a round of miserable results for centre-left Labour, which slumped to its worst showing in local elections in 40 years, losing seats to the Tories in its traditional heartlands of Wales and northern England.
It also limped in third in the national vote equivalent, 20 points behind the Tories on 44 percent -- enough for them to secure a parliamentary majority if the results were repeated at a general election.
London was being watched especially closely for signs that southern, city voters, who were key to helping Blair lead Labour to a landslide general election victory exactly 11 years ago were now deserting them.
A Johnson victory had been widely predicted after Labour losses throughout the day.
But while he will wield more power than any other from his party in the country, despite being relatively inexperienced in high-profile, big budget roles, he will be put under close scrunity from day one.
The former Daily Telegraph journalist and Spectator magazine editor has made his name with of appearances on satirical television quiz "Have I Got News For You", while he is known for a string of high-profile gaffes and slip-ups.
