LONDON (AFP/EJP)--- Boris Johnson bucked the national trend and secured a second term in office with a decisive Mayoral election victory last week over former incumbent Ken Livingstone.

Conservative Johnson proved his popularity, gaining 3% more votes than his rival, in the face of bitter local-election losses for his party across the country, with a total of 405 Conservative council seats falling amid the party’s worst performance since forming a coalition government two years ago.

Johnson’s popularity in London, which, with 5.8 million voters makes it Western Europe’s second largest electorate, coming second only to France, even flew in the face of a swing in support from Conservative to Labour in voting for the London Assembly, the body that holds the mayor to account.

A controversial figure who started out life as a journalist, before being elected to parliament in 2001, Johnson has won widespread support amongst Londoners for his willingness to criticise the party hierarchy, blundering behaviour and for enthusiastic style of speech. This second mayoral victory is seen by many to cement his credentials as a post-Cameron Conservative party leader.

His opponent ‘Red Ken’ Livingstone was increasingly portrayed as an isolated character throughout a bitterly contested election campaign, which culminated in a speech made by Livingstone to Labour activists in which he claimed Jews would not vote for him ‘because they’re rich’. The statement was greeted with widespread disapproval across the Jewish community, with Jewish Labour peer Lord Sugar urging his 1.8 million Twitter followers not to vote for the Labour candidate.

Livingstone was also criticised for seeming to court the Muslim community, by meeting with the controversial radical Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi and accepting money from Iranian state broadcaster Press TV. In a poll published in The Times, 40% of those planning to vote for Boris Johnson claimed that Livingstone’s poor relationship with the Jewish community had impacted their decision to do so.

Boris Johnson thanked voters for their support and for giving him ‘a new chance and a new mandate to take us forward’. Ken Livingstone announced he would not contest another mayoral election.

The elections were otherwise successful for the Labour party, who dominated nationwide, gaining more than 800 council seats from both Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and increasing its presence on the London Assembly.

The British National Party lost momentum gained in previous elections, winning just 2.1% of the London vote and losing its one seat in the London Assembly, as well as all six of its former council seats.