Britain's governing Labour Party has suffered its worst local election results in 40 years with widespread losses, including the political prize of running London.

Ken Livingstone, who has been the mayor of London since 2000, was ousted by Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party candidate, according to official results released on Saturday.

Johnson, a journalist turned politician, seized London's City Hall and control of its 11bn pound ($ 22bn) budget.

The losses were a major blow to Gordon Brown's government, which has been facing criticism over rising fuel, food and energy costs and falling house prices in addition to its recent economic record and tax reforms.

BNP victory:

The London assembly election results also showed the British National Party (BNP) making an electoral breakthrough by gaining its first seat.

Richard Barnbrook, a Royal Academy-trained former artist, was elected to the 25-member body via the proportional representation system, meaning he can now take up a seat at City Hall to scrutinise the mayor's decisions.

Barnbrook, who leads the BNP group on Barking and Dagenham Council in east London, also stood as the party's candidate for London mayor.

He came fifth out of 10 candidates with 69,710 first preference votes, just 7,664 less than the Green Party's candidate, who came fourth.

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