David Cameron hails Boris Johnson's London mayoral win

Prime Minister David Cameron has said he is "delighted" with Boris Johnson's re-election as London mayor.

He said the Conservative candidate fought "a very strong campaign", and "now what matters is working together for the good of London".

Mr Johnson outperformed his party as a whole in the local elections, but said the mayoral election was simply "a contest between two propositions".

The Tories suffered heavy losses, with Labour seizing control of 32 councils.

Mr Johnson is due to be sworn in shortly at City Hall and will give a short speech.

The mayoral contest was much closer than many people had expected.

Mr Johnson gained 44% of first preference votes, to Ken Livingstone's 40.3%. After second preferences came into play, Mr Johnson gained a total of 1,054,811 votes, or 51.5%, to the Labour candidate's 48.5%.

Lib Dem Brian Paddick saw his vote collapse and he was beaten into fourth place by Green Jenny Jones, with independent Siobhan Benita fifth.

Speaking at City Hall on Saturday, Mr Cameron said: "I think it was a very strong campaign by Boris. It was based on his record, on the excellent things he has done as mayor and I am delighted to congratulate him.

"It was a campaign the whole Conservative party got behind.

"I enjoyed campaigning with Boris, but now what matters is working together for the good of London, as prime minister, as mayor, and that is exactly what we are going to do."

Mr Johnson said it was "a hard-fought, long campaign" and he was "grateful" to the Conservative Party for supporting him.

"I think we were able to reach people across the city with a message which resonated with them in tough times."

Asked why he had done so much better than the Conservatives elsewhere, he replied: "A mayoral contest is inevitably a contest between two propositions.

"Basically, proposition A was go back to the 1970s or 1980s and proposition B was go forward with investment in creating jobs, growth, in the most dynamic city in Europe."