Conservative Elected London Mayor

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The Conservative wave washed across Britain from the wealthy counties of southern England to mining towns in Wales. But it was the London race that captured the public's imagination in recent weeks as two of Britain's most outsize political personalities battled in a razor-close race.

More than 2.4 million Londoners, about 45 percent of registered voters, turned out to cast ballots Thursday, compared with about a third in the rest of the country. The capital city turnout was also a sharp increase over 2004 and 2000, when the mayor's job was created.

While the London race was ostensibly about crime, transportation and housing issues, it was mainly a referendum on two controversial personalities. The most passionate votes, analysts said, were those cast against either Johnson or Livingstone.

Johnson is a product of the elite Eton School and Oxford University who spent years working for Conservative-oriented newspapers and magazines before becoming a Conservative Party member of Parliament in 2001.

He is best known for his antics as a guest on popular British television programs and his often slightly off-color wit. Despite remarkable ease with multisyllabic words rarely used outside PhD theses, Johnson has a long history of embarrassing and sometimes offensive gaffes.

Livingstone, 62, is a streetwise rebel from inner-city London, a tough and shrewd politician whose admiration for Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez earned him the nickname Red Ken.

Friday night at London City Hall, a modern glass building on the banks of the Thames, Johnson's supporters celebrated while Livingstone's were melancholy -- one elderly couple said they came out to "wave one last goodbye to Ken."

"Ken probably wishes he wasn't part of Labor right now," said Rob Cottrell, 35, a teacher who came to soak up the election-night atmosphere. "Ken is a straight shooter, and it gets him in trouble, but I like that. Boris is more of a playful personality, and that's what people want, some personality."

Madeleine Lee, 30, another teacher, said Livingstone "hasn't done enough" with his eight years in office."

"But you don't know what you're going to get with Boris," she said. "He can perform, but can he deliver? It's the unknown that's concerning."

Special correspondent Karla Adam contributed to this report.