Boris Johnson and his wife Marina (centre) at an Asian function. She is the daughter of late BBC journalist Sir Charles Wheeler and his Sikh wife, Dip Singh

London, May 5: Boris Johnson was last night dramatically re-elected the Tory mayor London for another four years after narrowly beating his Labour rival Ken Livingstone by 1,054,811 votes to 992,273 – a winning margin of 51.5 per cent of votes cast to 48.5 per cent.

There is some evidence that it was the Indian (Hindu) vote which helped push Johnson over the top.

Johnson’s victory has led some political analysts to suggest that the Tory mayor may eventually challenge David Cameron for the leadership of the Conservative Party if the Tories continue to perform poorly under the prime minister.

For example, the right-leaning Daily Mail declared today: “Mr Johnson’s strong personal showing puts him in pole position to succeed David Cameron as Tory leader and Prime Minister.”

In nationwide local government elections in 181 councils on Thursday, widely seen as a test of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government after two years in power, the Tories did very badly, losing 403 seats. The Lib Dems also performed poorly, losing 330.

Labour gained 824 seats, after winning 38 per cent of votes cast, compared with 31 per cent for the Conservatives and 16 per cent for Lib Dems.

Even in London the trend was towards Labour, except in the mayoral election where Johnson bucked the trend and managed to beat Livingstone, who has been mayor twice before and wanted to return for a third term.

In the mayoral election, neither Johnson nor Livingstone got 50 per cent of the first preference votes — Johnson won 971,931 first preference votes to Livingstone’s 889,918. The second preference votes from the other five candidates — 882,880 for Johnson and 102,355 for Livingstone — were then added to their respective totals to give the final figures.

In Cameron, India has a good friend. But New Delhi will have to keep a close eye on Johnson’s progress to assess whether he has a realistic chance of fulfilling his prime ministerial ambitions.

After last night’s result was announced, Livingstone sought to sow dissent in Tory ranks with an anti-Cameron quip: “I want to congratulate Boris on his personal victory. Whilst Cameron and (George) Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer) are dragging the Tory Party down to defeat in the rest of Britain, not only have you won another term, but I suspect this result has settled the question of the next Tory leadership election.”

Cameron and Johnson are both seen as “posh boys” since they are contemporaries who went to Eton and Oxford. But Johnson, who often behaves like one of Bertie Wooster’s friends from the Drones Club, enjoys playing the buffoon. In reality, he has one of the sharpest brains in British politics and journalism (he gets Pound250,000 a year for his weekly Daily Telegraph column).

Johnson, whose wife Marina is part-Indian — she is the daughter of late Sir Charles Wheeler, one time Delhi correspondent of the BBC, and his Sikh second wife, Dip Singh — has been well received by Indians at a number of Asian functions he has attended in the last few months.

An Indian-origin Labour councillor in east London told The Telegraph that Livingstone might well have won had he not alienated a great many Hindus. “He said the future of London is Muslim. And he has also upset the Jews by saying rich Jews won’t vote for him. He should not have been so communal.”

Livingstone went to the North London Central Mosque, also known as Finsbury Park Mosque, once the recruiting ground for the radical preacher, Abu Hamza, and pledged to “educate the mass of Londoners” in Islam.

“That will help to cement our city as a beacon that demonstrates the meaning of the words of the Prophet,” Livingstone was quoted as saying in remarks which generated a great deal of controversy (the Jewish Chronicle weekly newspaper virtually campaigned against Livingstone).

One Hindu who had previously voted for Livingstone confided to the Labour councillor: “I voted for Ken twice before but not this time.”

The councillor himself revealed: “This time, too, I campaigned for Ken since I am a loyal Labour man but unlike last time I put in only 25 per cent of my effort in this election.”

Among prominent Jews, Lord (Alan) Sugar, presenter of The Apprentice on television, sent out a Twitter message to his 1.8m followers: “I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections.”

Sugar, known for his catchphrase “You’re fired” on television, added: “I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections.”