■ In broad terms, the mayor is responsible for transport, police and fi re services and the general economic development of London. His powers are limited, however

■ For example, he sets a budget for the Metropolitan police and appoints some members of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), which oversees the force. However, the home secretary can overrule the mayor’s budget – if he or she thinks it is too low – and appoints the Met commissioner. Though Boris Johnson has said he is unhappy with the performance of Sir Ian Blair as commissioner, he cannot directly remove him, because such a decision must be made by the MPA and approved by the home secretary. The mayor can also express opinions about operational matters – such as the number of police on the streets – but they are the responsibility of the commissioner

■ Similarly, he appoints and chairs the board of Transport for London (TfL), which runs the capital’s Tube and bus network, and sets its budget, but is tied to a fi ve-year funding deal with the Treasury that was struck in 2004. He can fund new initiatives – such as replacing bendy buses – by using TfL’s cash pile of more than £1 billion or by raising fares. For large infrastructure projects, though, he would need central government support

■ The mayor, who earns £137,000 a year, also sets out planning strategies to govern new building and development in London, but, practically, his main infl uence is through his power to veto major planning applications

■ The build-up to the 2012 Olympics is likely to be the major event of Johnson’s mayoralty. His name is on the contract with the International Olympic Committee and he sits on the London organising committee’s board. A tranche of funding for the games will come out of London taxpayers’ pockets, a rate currently fi xed at 38p a week per person. Johnson will have to fi ght hard to resist demands for more money from central government as costs spiral

■ His powers are small compared with the New York major, who has a budget of £30 billion and is responsible for all city services, public property, the police and fi re services and education. The Paris mayor has transport and planning powers and also runs primary schools and social housing. He has a budget of about £6 billion

BORIS’S KEY PLEDGES

■ TRANSPORT

Pledge: Phase out bendy buses and replace them with “21st-century Routemaster” double-deckers with conductors Practicality: Possible, though at a cost. Replacing London’s 330 bendy buses, below, with new double-deckers would cost about £100m, say experts. That might sound a lot; however, it is just 1.4% of TfL’s annual budget Pledge: Reform the congestion charge and scrap plans for a £25 levy Practicality: Possible fi nancially, but effect on congestion is less clear Pledge: 50 extra British transport police offi cers Practicality: Easily done

■ CRIME

Pledge: 440 more police community support offi cers; funding for three new rape crisis centres; £2.6m for portable and fi xed scanners to detect people carrying knives Practicality: A small cost in the context of the Metropolitan Police Authority’s £3.5 billion expenditure Pledge: Cut red tape so that police can spend more time on the beat Practicality: Low. Red tape seems to be harder to beat than the mafi a

■ HOUSING

Pledge: 50,000 more affordable homes by 2011; reduce the number of empty homes (currently about 84,000 in London) to just 1% of the housing stock Practicality: Tricky. The housing market is already facing a downturn. Ken Livingstone had some success in this area, based on his powers of persuasion. Last year 11,700 of the 33,000 new homes built in the captital were affordable. The Empty Homes Agency welcomes Boris’s targets but says they are “challenging” Boris’s dream of London as a new Athens

The new mayor has said he wants to run London in the same way that his classical hero Pericles ran Athens in the fi fth century BC. What can London expect? It will be a bit crowded in City Hall, as every male over the age of 18 will be called to form an assembly, as they did in ancient Athens. The poor will be pleasantly surprised. Pericles decreed that they should be able to watch plays free of charge. So if Boris gets a move on, you should be able to get tickets for Major Barbara at the National Theatre this week. Pericles also presided over a big building programme in Athens, including the Parthenon. Johnson will, of course, watch over the building of the facilities for the 2012 Olympics, though it would be unfair to expect them to still be standing in 2,500 years.

The bad news is that Pericles, although known for his intellectual interests, was also a general who fought wars against other city states, notably Sparta. So with Boris in charge, the people of Slough might come to regret voting Labour into power on Thursday.

The things he says

‘ Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3 - On the campaign trail during the 2005 general election

What’s my view on drugs? I’ve forgotten my view on drugs - Ditto

As I have discovered, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters - After being sacked from the Tory front bench in 2004

Look the point is ... er, what is the point? It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it - On becoming shadow arts minister in 2004’

Times Recommends

• Third of Muslim students back killings
• Curfew tames feral yobs of Cornwall
• £3,000-a-month drug free abroad