Boris Johnson has given the go-ahead for East London’s tallest tower, using new planning powers for the first time to overturn a local council’s decision to refuse permission.

Opponents say the London mayor’s decision flies in the face of election pledges he made to clamp down on skyscrapers ruining the capital’s heritage sites and give local authorities and residents more power in planning decisions.

Johnson repeatedly attacked previous mayor Ken Livingstone’s support for tall towers during his election campaign. But he overruled Tower Hamlets Council, claiming the application for the 63-storey Columbus Tower on the Isle of Dogs near Canary Wharf was of strategic importance to the whole of the capital.

Financial Times