New Mayor's top appointments

In his first week as Mayor Boris Johnson has announced a strong team of top appointments. One of his election pledges was to introduce a Cabinet system at City Hall. At the first meeting of the Assembly, however, the Labour Group argued 'Deputy Mayors' who are not Assembly Members have not been elected and ought not to be given responsibilities.

The statutory post of Deputy Mayor is filled by Richard Barnes, Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon, and previously Leader of Hillingdon Borough Council. His responsibilities will be cohesion and regeneration, and he will also lead the Conservative Group on the Assembly.

The other appointments are:
Ray Lewis as Deputy Mayor, Young People. Born in Guyana, he has been since 2001 Executive Director of the Eastside Young Leaders Academy. His priority will be the fight against gun and knife crime

Ian Clement as Deputy Mayor, Government Relations. He has been Leader of Bexley Borough Council since 2006, and has led on crime and public protection for London Councils

Kit Malthouse as Deputy Mayor, Policing. He is the new Assembly Member for West Central London, and was previously Cabinet Member for finance at Westminster City Council, and before that responsible for social services

Sir Simon Milton as Senior Adviser, Planning. Simon Milton has been Leader of Westminster City Council since 2000, and at national level Chairman of the Local Government Association since 2007.

Tony Travers of the London School of Economics has suggested the new Mayor's team may come to rely more heavily than Ken's advisers did on the full-time officials under Greater London Authority Chief Executive Anthony Mayer. However, a key figure behind the scenes may be Nicholas Boles, who was at one stage himself suggested as a possible Conservative candidate for Mayor.