Mayor of London Boris Johnson rolled into Mill Hill to mark the launch of the Conservative London election campaign with Hendon candidate Matthew Offord.

Crowds followed the Mayor as he visited shops and cafes along Mill Hill Broadway, and posed for selfies on the street with passers-by.

Mr Johnson, who is standing as the Tory candidate in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, criticised the attention given to “wretched” opinion polls, which showed Labour ahead in London.

He said: “Who cares about opinion polls? I think there are fights all over the place that will go different ways. Headline poll figures don’t mean anything.

“I have always been very reluctant to call the results of elections. Who is really making the argument about growing the economy? That’s the Conservatives.”

Asked whose responsibility it will be if the party does not win in London, he said: “Why are you already writing off our chance? We are going to work very hard.”

The Mayor said people had the choice at the ballot box between going backwards with Ed Miliband, or “forward with the Conservatives”.

He added: “They will choose hope and progress."

The Mayor praised Mr Offord, who was elected as Hendon MP in 2010, as having done a “fantastic job”.

Mr Johnson said: “I think there’s a huge amount of support for him. He has all the right priorities that matter to people – greater securities for schools, lobbying on getting more police out on the streets. I think he has done a first rate job.

“Crime is well, well down now and I am grateful to Matthew for his constant support. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Look at what is happening to the crime figures.”

Asked whether ‘affordable’ rents – often set at 80 per cent of market rate – could actually be classed as being truly affordable, he said the average across London tended to be 65 per cent.

On the issue of home ownership, he said: “There are huge amounts of products available and we want to help people get their homes. We have built a record number of homes – over this mayoralty there have been more than 100,000."

Asked about Barnet Borough Council’s proposal to raise council rents to 80 per cent of market rate, Mr Johnson said: “We will have to look at that. My priority is to build more homes for Londoners of all incomes.”