Reaction to Boris Johnson's win

Here is a sample of some of those reactions.

Gordon Brown is a detail man but he can't take the big decisions. Boris will be concentrating on the big picture and on the extraordinary rapport that he can develop, even with members of the public who hate politicians. Boris is incapable in himself of making the train run on time, but he's very good at appreciating people, appointing and appreciating people who can do that.

I look forward to developing an effective working relationship between the Met and the new mayor. The support of London's mayor is vitally important for police officers as they go about the difficult and often dangerous job they do on the public's behalf. I have no doubt that such support will be forthcoming and I give my assurance that the Met, in turn, will strive to maintain the unprecedented levels of crime reduction we have achieved in recent years whilst delivering effective local community policing and protecting London from terrorism.

Boris will bring vigour and enthusiasm to the mayor's office and I wish him every success in the job. It is important the mayor continues to protect and promote the city's strengths, as well as address its weaknesses, particularly skills, infrastructure and transport. I look forward to meeting him very soon to continue the strong dialogue the CBI has with the mayor's office. I'm sure we can work closely together for the greater good of London.

The election of Boris Johnson as mayor is a bad day for London, for Londoners and for the capital's public services. In time, Londoners will regret electing this Conservative as their champion. We are particularly worried about the effect that the election of a BNP assembly member will have on race relations and community harmony.

Boris Johnson made it absolutely clear that his intention is to be a mayor for the whole of London and that's a good start. I think everybody will, in the interests of London, want to give him the benefit of the doubt and provide him with the help that he is going to need in these huge challenges.

London is one of the most diverse, vibrant, successful and important cities in the world, and in Boris Johnson it now has a Conservative mayor. Boris ran a serious and energetic campaign and deserves his remarkable victory.

Mayor-elect Johnson built his campaign on addressing many of the intractable issues we've been tackling in innovative ways in New York - building a more environmentally-sustainable city, creating incentives for private developers to build affordable housing, improving bus service and other forms of mass transit, driving crime down, and improving public health. I enjoyed meeting Boris when I was in London last fall and I look forward to meeting with him again when I will be in London on Friday and starting work together on the issues we share.

Pointing the way forward is the unlikely figure of Boris Johnson, initially dismissed as a joke candidate in the London mayoral contest, but who ran a magnificent campaign to topple Ken Livingstone from his eight-year reign in the capital. The turnout was higher than the miserable showing elsewhere in the country, testament to the galvanising power of personality politics. Boris was far more than a television celebrity; he stood for an alternative vision to that of Mr Livingstone and was last night declared as London's mayor.

Boris Johnson has become the most powerful elected Conservative in Britain, which is jaw-dropping. He will have to impose himself on an administration shaped by eight years of Livingstone rule. That will take a clarity of purpose absent from his campaign. But Labour supporters would be wrong to assume he will fail.

All the signs are that Mr Johnson will be an accessible, tolerant and open mayor. He has sensible policies that reflect most Londoners' everyday priorities, as well as the intelligence and courage to do the best for the city.

Much will now depend on the quality of the team he puts in place: he has already assembled a solid team, but he should also draw, as he has promised to, on the best non-partisan officials of the old administration. The people of London have chosen well. Now it is for Mr Johnson to fulfil those hopes.

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