Boris Wins But Labour Gains at Local Level

Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes loses local London Assembly seat

Boris Johnson has been re-elected as London Mayor, beating Ken Livingstone by a margin of 3%. The announcement was made just before midnight, after a count that lasted more than twenty-five hours. The overall result was 1,054,811 votes for Boris Johnson while the final number of votes for Ken Livingstone was 992,273.

The result was delayed by almost four hours from its expected time of 8 p.m. when it was discovered that two ballot boxes from Brent and Harrow were sent into storage without being verified and had to be sorted and recounted by hand.

Tony Travers of the London School of Economics said that Boris had “walked on water“ to win, considering the result of the Conservative party at national level.

Ken Livingstone said he would not run for election again.

Jenny Jones of the Green Party came third.

The result was closer than anticipated and while Boris Johnson was ahead in the first count, Labour picked up second preference votes which changed the dynamic considerably. Jenny Jones, of the Green Party, who came third, said the message from voters was that Boris Johnson did not have as clear a mandate as he might have expected.

Labour increased their vote substantially in the London Assembly elections in the local area.

Boris in Snappy Snaps Chiswick

Labour initially had high hopes of a shock result in the South West constituency which covers Hounslow and Richmond borough and was expected to be an easy hold for sitting Assembly Member Tony Arbour. Labour have made big gains in the constituency at the expense of the Liberal Democrats. They were a poor third last time out. Chiswick resident Daniel Goldsmith has made good progress for the Green Party.

Labour won the Ealing and Hillingdon area vote which is the constituency for residents of north Chiswick in Ealing borough. Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes lost out after twelve years, to Labour candidate Dr. Onkar Sahota.

London Mayoral Election

Live Vote Count - 5.17pm with over 90% of vote counted

London Assembly Election

South West Area (Borough of Hounslow)

Live Vote Count - 5.17pm with over 90% of vote counted

Result from 2008 Election

Ealing and Hillingdon Area (Borough of Ealing)

Live Vote Count - 5.17pm with over 90% of vote counted

The Mayor, who was accompanied by his entourage, including local MP Mary Macleod, and a large group of media, had heard of local concerns, including demands by people in Chiswick that the Piccadilly Line stop at Turnham Green station. He also heard from local traders about lack of parking affecting business.

Local businessman and franchise owner of Snappy Snaps Chiswick , John Fitzgerald was stunned when Boris rushed in eager to check out the full range of personalised commercial print products; “One minute we were printing photos and the next the larger than life character Boris Johnson bursts through our shop entrance”.

John said; “Boris was admiring our personalised t-shirts and mugs which are not only gift products but work fantastically for promoting and driving awareness for business campaigns, however, I don’t think Boris will be sending Ken a personalised card anytime soon!”.

"People seemed a bit surprised to see him, but he didn't stay for long. We were very busy at the time so there wasn't much time to chat", said Rodney Macken (pictured below) of Macken Brothers Butchers.

One woman said she definitely would not be voting for him, while another engaged him in conversation to which he listened intently.

The butcher's shop is just yards from Turnham Green underground station which is the centre of a long-running campaign by local people, supported by MP Mary Macleod, to pursuade transport authorites to allow Piccadilly Line trains to stop there.

May 6, 2012

May 6, 2012