Ken Livingstone: I won't fight another election - The Sun

The Labour veteran conceded that after four decades in politics it was time to leave the stage.

But he could not resist lashing out at Boris Johnson after their bruising head-to-head contest for London Mayor — branding his Tory rival's campaign "vicious and unpleasant".

Ken's defeat bucked a landslide national trend for Labour as the party gained a massive 823 council seats.

Glum Ken, 66, said: "I'll spend the rest of my life regretting we didn't win this one because it would have made a lot of difference to people's lives."

He moaned: "The trouble with this Tory mayor is he didn't do the job in the last four years. He used the machinery of City Hall to promote himself, and he's carried on opening the things I started."

Boris, who beat Livingstone by three per cent, yesterday vowed to "work his socks off" over the next four years as mayor. The contest ends a controversial career for Mr Livingstone stretching back to 1971.

He was dubbed the "most odious man in Britain" by The Sun for his support of Sinn Fein.

In this latest campaign, it emerged he avoided income tax by channelling earnings through a private firm — after attacking tax avoiders as "rich bastards".