It is unlikely that Londoners will wake up this morning with bigger breasts or an enhanced chance of owning a top-of-the-range sports car, regardless of Boris Johnson’s past assurances about voting Tory.

Nevertheless, a victory for Mr Johnson would usher in a new era for the capital and with it a number of grassroots changes that would significantly affect the lives of its residents.

The affluent citizens in the West could be whooping with joy this weekend as they roar around in their gas guzzling 4x4s: Mr Johnson plans to scrap the £25 congestion charge on Chelsea tractors. Motorists and cyclists who have to share narrow streets with bendy buses may also be celebrating. Provided that Mr Johnson lives up to his campaign manifesto, bendy buses will be phased out and replaced with new Routemasters.

Life is also set to change for rowdy teenagers who disrupt bus passengers. Under a Johnson regime, anti-social youths will be stripped of their right to free transport and forced to earn it back through community work.

This pledge is one of several that form the backbone of Mr Johnson’s campaign: a promise of reduced crime and a more secure public transport system. Londoners will see more police on public transport and more officers on the streets, with Mr Johnson pledging to increase funding while lessening the burden of bureaucracy.

Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, faces a tough time under a Johnson mayoralty.

Mr Johnson told The Times last month that he would have to have “a working relationship” with Sir Ian if he won the election, only because he would not have the power to dismiss him. He said that the next head of Scotland Yard should either be appointed by the mayor or elected. Mr Johnson also confirmed that he would assume the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Police Authority if he was victorious. Privately, many officers have been worried for some time that Sir Ian has become too close to Ken Livingstone and the Labour Party. However, Sir Ian is determined to see out his five years and believes that falling crime figures will make it difficult to remove him.

Mr Johnson plans to tackle street crime, with initiatives such as knife scanners. Although this focus on crime has resulted in specific policies and clear outcomes, Mr Johnson’s environmental vision has been more ambiguous, with vague assurances of a greener capital.

Environmentalists, whose cause was championed by Ken Livingstone, have been cautious about the new leader. Friends of the Earth welcomed his pledge to “take action to make London the greenest city in the world” but expressed concern about his pledge to scrap the £25 charge and his willingness to review the western expansion of the congestion charge zone.

Tony Juniper, the FoE director, said these plans, and “other, sometimes vague, green pledges” cast doubt on whether Mr Johnson would achieve his aims.

Transport figures have been more relaxed, with Mr Johnson appearing to support Transport for London’s investment programme and initiatives to modernise the Tube. He has also promised a revitalised and reengergised approach to city governance, cutting out waste and stamping out cronyism at the Greater London Authority.

Londoners, accustomed to the presence of Ken Livingstone, are likely to notice a new style of leadership coming from City Hall. Tony Travers, director of the Greater London Group at the London School of Economics, believes that Mr Johnson will approach politics in the capital more traditionally. “The Livingstone style was for the city to be run by a very tight clique of advisers, loyal to Ken,” he toldThe Times. I think the Johnson regime will look much more like a normal Cabinet or administration in a big local authority. It will be rather softer. Ken Livingstone was sometimes accused of running a Stalinist regime, but in fairness to him London is such a vast and diverse city that unless you have a good grip on what is happening, nothing will happen. Boris has a gentle style but he will have to toughen up his demeanour. He will have to get a grip and keep a grip.”

A larger than life figure, he more than matches Mr Livingstone in terms of public profile and controversy but will need to be taken seriously if he is to attract business and promote the capital to the world. After that, all that remains is whether he can deliver, and quickly. Mr Johnson has not set out timeframes for many of his new measures, while scepticism surrounds his budgeting for key schemes, such as the Routemasters.

However, according to Mr Travers, success at City Hall may not be very difficult for a man who has been lampooned nationally as a buffoon. “The expectations have been set so low that even if he performs only half well people will see him as a success.”

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