Supporters of London Mayoral hopeful Boris Johnson could be charged as much as £1.50 to nominate him as the Conservative candidate.

The Henley MP is up against three other shortlisted Tory candidates and Londoners have been invited to vote for their choice.

But voters need to ring a premium 0906 phoneline to get hold of a ballot paper.

The Tory party yesterday denied trying to profit from the voting but admitted callers would typically pay between £1 and £1.50 reports The Mirror.

The company running the phoneline, iTouch, was fined £30,000 by watchdogs in August after being accused of misleading callers to Channel 4's Deal Or No Deal.

Mr Johnson launched his campaign to win his party's nomination as their candidate in the mayoral election yesterday.

But in typical bumbling Boris fashion the video player showing his campaign speech failed to start at yesterday's launch.

Among his pledges the 43-year-old has said he will set up a plan for 24-hour Safer Neighbourhood policing, look to design a new bus for the capital and phase out the bendy bus and make the congestion charge fairer and more flexible.