Each borough is divided into electoral wards, subject to periodic review, for the purpose of electing councillors.

The political make-up of London borough councils is dominated by the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties.

Twenty-eight councils follow the leader and cabinet model of executive governance, while five have directly elected mayors (Croydon, Hackney, Lewisham, Newham, and Tower Hamlets).

The Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London was established in 1957 and the report was published on 19 October 1960.

[note 1] Elections were held on 7 May 1964, with the new councils acting as shadow authorities before coming into their powers the following year.

Between 1965 and 1986 the boroughs were part of a two-tier system of government and shared power with the Greater London Council (GLC).

The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the London borough councils responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection.

The Local Government Act 1972 provided a mechanism for the name of a London borough and its council to be changed.

The London boroughs were created by combining whole existing units of local government and it was realised that this might provide arbitrary boundaries in some places.

The Act also provided for transfers between London boroughs and neighbouring counties where there was consensus for the change between all the relevant local authorities.

[3] Following the review a series of relatively minor adjustments were made to borough boundaries, for example uniting the whole of the Becontree estate in Barking and Dagenham.

As a strategic authority, it absorbed only limited powers, such as major highways and planning strategy, from the borough councils.

[7] Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham were due to merge their education services, including school admissions and transport, by 2011.

[8] In October 2010, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster announced plans to merge all their services to create a "super-council".

[10] The management thinker and inventor of the Vanguard Method, Professor John Seddon, claims that shared service projects based on attempts to achieve economies of scale are a mix of a) the plausibly obvious and b) a little hard data[clarification needed], brought together to produce two broad assertions, for which there is little hard factual evidence.