A MATTER OF WANTING IT BAD ENOUGH:

Boris Johnson is the new London Mayor (Andrew Porter and Robert Winnett, 03/05/2008, Daily Telegraph)

The Conservative candidate's win over Ken Livingstone followed a calamitous showing for Labour at the local elections - the party's worst performance at the polls for 40 years.

Mr Johnson's landmark victory, a result that would have been almost unthinkable six months ago, was the most symbolic blow to Mr Brown's authority on a day that left the Prime Minister facing the gravest crisis of his leadership.

By taking City Hall, Mr Johnson becomes the first Tory politician to hold a senior role in British politics since the party was swept out of power in 1997. His win provided a significant boost to David Cameron's bid for victory at the next general election.

Thanks to the vagaries of the British political system, Mayor may be the most powerful elective position in the country.

MORE:
Conservative Elected London Mayor: Boris Johnson's Victory Part of Strong Backlash Against Labor, Gordon Brown (Kevin Sullivan, 5/03/08, Washington Post)

"Let's get cracking tomorrow -- let's have a drink tonight!" Johnson, 43, a famously playful iconoclast instantly recognizable for his rebellious blond hair, said in a midnight acceptance speech at City Hall. [...]

"This is catastrophic news for the Labor Party," said Philip Cowley, a professor of politics at the University of Nottingham. "You can see it in the faces of the Labor politicians -- they all know this is a disastrous result."

Cowley said Labor's performance had an ominous historical precedent. Its share of the vote, he noted, was slightly worse than the Conservative Party's showing in the 1995 local elections-- two years before the party was routed from power nationally by Labor, led by a young newcomer, Tony Blair.

Johnson snatches Tories' biggest prize: New mayor gains more than 1m first preference votes, wins 53% of the vote and ends Livingstone's tenure at City Hall (Nicholas Watt, 5/03/08, The Guardian)

In a sign of his determination to reach across party lines, Johnson adopted a more serious pose in his acceptance speech as he paid a warm tribute to his defeated rival. Turning to Livingstone, standing behind on a platform at City Hall, the new mayor said: "I think you have been a very considerable public servant and a distinguished leader of this city. You shaped the office of mayor. You gave it national prominence and when London was attacked on July 7 2005 you spoke for London.

"And I can tell you that your courage and the sheer exuberant nerve with which you stuck it to your enemies, especially in New Labour, you have thereby earned the thanks of millions of Londoners even if you think that they have a funny way of showing it today."

Johnson made clear that he still envisaged a role for Livingstone, who had suggested he would have offered his Tory rival a job if he had held office. "When we have that drink together, which we both so richly deserve, I hope we can discover a way in which the mayoralty can continue to benefit from your transparent love of London, a city whose energy conquered the world and which now brings the world together in one city," Johnson said.

Livingstone, who will have to watch as Johnson represents London at the Beijing Olympics in August as the torch is passed over for the 2012 games, apologised for losing after eight years in office.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 3, 2008 8:32 AM