Dominic Gover live at City Hall:

5:21pm

We are told that the winner will not be announced now until 10.30pm. So much for the march of technology. Electronic counting was supposed to quicken the process. It may be a typical, traditional election night after all.

Tessa Jowell, the minister for London, seems to be preparing for the worst.

She said: "I've heard that Boris is ahead.

If Ken has not won, London has lost someone special. He has been passionate for the city and has done great things, and that is something I have heard all across London.

"But we are not there yet, and we may be in for a long night.

"There has been a move against the government, and London is not immune to that."

"People in London are worried about the big turbulence and how it will affect them"

I think that in london it has been a contest between two big figures. Although it has been a close contest, we cannot take the influence of the bad night we had last night"

"It's not fair to say that the party is dying. Ken Livingstone has galvanised the party base against the BNP."

5:55pm

It seems that Ken's lot is so low right now, that even vanquished foes from elections past believe they could chase him out of town tonight.

Steve Norris was beaten by Livingstone twice in the race for mayor, in 2000 and 2004. But the Tory's ex-candidate believes that it would be third time lucky for him.

Mr Norris said: "I would love to run this time because I would have beaten him. But I cannot afford it. I could have done eight years ago."

18:20pm

ENFIELD

With 81 per cent of the mayoral votes there counted, Ken Livingstone has nosed ahead of Boris in Enfield and Haringey. Brian Paddick currently lies third, with the Green Party fourth.

ENFIELD

Labour are just in front of the Conservatives in the London Member count.

18:47pm

Result expected at '10pm at the earliest' according to one official

The reason for the delay is that an extra 1.5m people voted. Altogether, 7.2m papers have to be counted. This means that 2.4m people voted in the election for mayor of London.

18:54pm

Some pointless, or perhaps presiscent, trivia. Today is the feast day of St Boris in the Bulgarian and Greek orthodox church.

Will his namesake move in mysterious ways? Will he be required to? Or will Ken's army be too strong?

19:05pm

ENFIELD

87.62 per cent of votes are counted in Enfield and Haringey, and Ken has a narrow lead over Boris. Enfield has flitted between the two throughout the count.

The pollsters say that turnout is high in the constituencies where Boris is performing well. Could it be that apathy does for Ken in the end?

The old Etonion currently holds leads in eight of London's 14 constituencies, while ken holds the remaining six.

19:10pm

The constabulary is guarding democracy vigourisly. While the count progresses, a rag-tag bunch of 10 anti- fascist protesters have been herded into a pen on the walkway by the river Thames. About 40 police officers have formed a ring around the pen's perimater.

A police boat is on the scene too, maybe to prevent the protesters from getting any ideas about requisitioning the docked HMS Belfast. Fat chance.

19:28pm

The latest rumour is that Boris is ahead by 48 per cent to Ken's 41 per cent overall. This means the Conservative candidate is three per cent away from winning the mayoral race straight out.

A candidate requires parity, which is a clear majority of 51 per cent, for this to happen.

There would be no need for a run-off if parity is reached by a candidate.

19:48pm

ENFIELD

Ken has stretched his lead over Boris in the vote for mayor in Enfield and Haringey. 98 per cent of votes there have been counted.

19:52pm There is a whisper going around that the BNP are close to winning two seats in the Constituent Assembly. Proportional Representation looks like working for them. 20:01pm

ENFIELD

The Constituency Returning Officer is checking Enfield and Haringey's mayoral ballot. Declaration imminent.

ENFIELD

Counting 99.5 per cent complete in London Member race. Declaration imminent.

20.21

That should read 'result pending'.

20:31pm ENFIELD

The Enfield and Haringey vote has been neck and neck all day. The delay in a declaration could be down to ballot papers being manually checked by the Returning Officer.

He or she has to look at each paper which the electronic device cannot read for whatever reason, and decide which candidate that ballot paper is a vote for.

20:40pm

The trickle of media personalities who made themselves available for interview earlier in the evening, has dried up. Perhaps they are in their respective party's campaign headaquarters with a flute of champagne, watching the television, like the gathered media here, in the egg's dome.

21.04pm

Tomorrow's Evening Standard has rolled off the presses. Its front page claims Boris is mayor

Speculation is rife as to whether he will, if he wins, have the required two thirds majority in the London Assembly that the mayor needs to get his budget passed into statute.

21.10pm

EXCLUSIVE

Tessa Jowell un-officially concedes victory to Boris Johnson.

The minister for London ran Ken Livingstone's election campaign.

Jowell calls for a new culture in the Labour party. She said: "It remains to be seen whether this result reflects a sea change in power across the country. I hope there is no chat about Gordon Brown"

21:44pm

The results for the mayoral ballot in neighbouring North East constituency are in. This includes Waltham Forest.

Results for London Mayor in North East constituency. First prefences only:

BNP 3,778

UKIP 1,396

Green 9,790

Boris Johnson 57,394

Ken Livingstone 96,402

Winston McKenzie 482

English Democrats 820

Brian Paddick 19,641

Christain People's alliance 3,067

Ken Livingstone favourite to win North East constituency, pending second preference

INFO:

'Pending second preference' means that no candidate won more than 50 per cent of total votes cast. So, the two candidates who polled the highest will go forwards into a run off to decide the winner.

The other candidates are eliminated, and the second preferences of ballot sheets which have them as first choice, are added to the totals of the two remaining candidates.

Havering and Redbridge final results:

BNP: 9,563

UKIP: 2,537

Greens: 2,906

Christian Alliance: 2,957

Left List: 671

Boris Johnson: 87,302

Ken Livingstone: 45,915

Winston McKenzie: 368

English Democrats: 1,050

Brian Paddick: 12,149

Boris Johnson favourite to win Havering and Redbridge, pending second preference.

Greenwich and Lewisham results:

BNP: 5,170

UKIP: 1,647

Greens: 5,930

Christian Alliance: 3,007

Left List: 1,144

Boris Johnson: 51,151

Ken Livingstone: 63,043

Winston McKenzie: 345

English Democrats: 764

Brian Paddick: 15,009

Ken Livingstone favourite to win Greenwich and Lewisham, pending second preferences.

23:00

ENFIELD:

Enfield and Haringey, London mayoral election results:

Ken Livingstone: 66,683

Boris Johnson: 60,239

Brian Paddick: 15,622

Green Party: 5,729

BNP: 3,293

Ken is in a strong position in Enfield and Haringey, and barring a strong show of second preference votes for Boris, Ken Livingstone is looking strong to win Enfield and Haringey.

23:24

Elsewhere, in South West, Boris has won 47.56 per cent of the first choices, Ken has 30,60, Paddick has 13.21, the Greens took 3.20 per cent, and the BNP polled 2.37 per cent of first preferences.

Meanwhile, in West Central, Boris has polled 55.65 per cent of first choice mayoral votes. He beats Ken into second, the incumbant won 29.61 of the vote. Brian Paddick is third with 8.41.

23.45

LONDON MAYOR ELECTION RESULT

Boris Johnson is the new mayor of London.

The conservative candidate won 140,000 more votes than his rival Ken Livingstone.

Johnson secured 1,168,738 votes in total.

Livingstone won 1,028,966 votes to finish second.

Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick finished a distant third with 236,685 votes.

In his victory speech, Johnson said: "I do not think for one second that this result means that London is transformed into a Tory city, but I will work flat out to repay the trust invested in me by voters who's pen wavered for a second before they crossed the box next to my name."

Outgoing mayor Ken Livingstone accepted responsibility for his defeat.

He said: "I'm sorry I couldn't get the extra few percentage points to take us to victory. I want to thank Londoners' for allowing me to serve me as mayor. i will help the new administration in any way I can."

For his part, Boris praised his predecessor as a "considerable public servant" and also his handling of the terrorist attacks of July 2005.

Johnson has pledged to cut crime, tackle anti social behaviour on buses, and reform the capital's public transport system.

He is also committed to reforming City Hall, with plans to cut the number of press officers on the public payroll.

10:00pm Friday 2nd May 2008

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