A Surprising Result After a Rather Bizarre Election Campaign

Chiswick Riverside councillor Gabriella Giles reports back

Cllr Gabriella Giles

May 16, 2026

As I said in my blog this week for the Hounslow Herald, a week can be a long time in politics, but in an election year, the weeks seem to fly by. This week was no different.

This time last week aspiring local politicians had decamped to Twickenham Stadium to find out the results of the local elections. Turnout had been unusually high across the borough, especially for a local election, with one polling station in Chiswick Riverside having a turnout of 55% by 9.30pm on Thursday evening. In Chiswick Riverside, we had over 3800 ballot papers issued and around 2000 of those were split / mixed votes. We knew this election was going to be close, but until the evening of Friday 8th May, none of us suspected it would be that close.

In Chiswick Riverside, we lost the steady hand of Peter Thompson by just 38 votes in a surprising result. His experience of over 20 years on the council, and the only Conservative Leader of Hounslow Council, may well prove to be valuable over the next four years now that Labour’s majority has been cut to just one after the elections, and we know we won’t let go of him that easily.

It has been a rather bizarre election, with accusations being flung around with no real proof, claims that by voting Labour or Green, you’d keep out Reform. Looking at the results, Reform didn’t really get a look-in in Chiswick, as they placed last in all three Chiswick wards.

Across Hounslow, our Conservative candidates were out in force, and their hard work came to fruition in many places; we picked up a new councillor, Darshan Nagi, in Hounslow Heath. Across Feltham and Heston, the electorate decided that they wanted change, and we returned all three seats across Hounslow West and Heston Central, two in Cranford and our ninth seat came in the form of Satwant Kaur who beat Shantanu Rajawat (Leader of the Council) into third place in his home ward of Heston West by 164 votes.

Our group is one that is here to serve, to work hard, and I have spent much of the last week in Hounslow House meeting our new colleagues. We are a relatively young team in Hounslow, but that means we can look at being innovative and not tied down to the old adage of “this is how we’ve always done it” and therefore become stuck.

For many of us who have experienced Hounslow Labour first hand, a Labour central government has been no surprise, and for our new group we are looking to shake things up a bit. Already we’ve seen that Hounslow Labour are making moves to shore up their majority, but only time will tell if the cost they’re setting themselves up for is one that they can deliver on.

Away from Hounslow House, I had the pleasure of being invited by his majesty the King to a garden party at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. Thankfully the weather held out, and we had an amazing time. The tea was fantastic, the sandwiches made with surprising variations on the traditional afternoon tea and a victoria sponge where the jam to cream ratio was just spot on! I took a close friend, Celia Surtees, and we had a plan of action: photos, tea, a wander around the grounds, and hopefully a chance to meet the King. Our plan was executed to perfection, and after waiting for an hour in line, we both got a chance to shake his hand.

Days like that are incredible, the chance to dress up, being stopped by tourists and being asked where we’re off to and if we can have our photos taken. Most importantly, everyone invited to attend had a fascinating and inspiring story as to why they’d been invited. Whether it be due to service in the Armed Forces, work in local or national government, or the team from Macclesfield who set up and run a youth brass band for the last 25 years where they had 150 young people all playing music together every week. To be recognised in such a way is somewhat overwhelming, and a memory that will be long cherished.

Away from the Palace and Hounslow House, casework has already started, and I’m still pushing on some items that weren’t closed out before the election. New projects have sprouted up, I’ve been back with the Brentford Ukulele Collective to play at a May Day event in Whitton, and we’re planning for our next community events.

As for the group in Chiswick, we’ve a new team in Homefields, Jack Emsley is joined by Michael Denniss and Linden Grigg; in Gunnersbury, Jo Biddolph and Ron Mushiso are joined by Vickram Grewal, and I’ll be flying the flag in Riverside. Our Group AGM is on Monday, so we’ll decide our leadership team for the next year, agree committee positions and set out our objectives.

We’re grateful to Peter, John Todd and Gerald McGregor for their years of service and are sure that we’ll see them again soon - and not just because we’ve invited them to our AGM!

Before the weekend is out, I’m aiming to finish our new rota for blogs and surgeries, so this should be available in due course.

Wishing you all a fantastic week ahead.

Cllr Gabriella Giles 

gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 

07966 270823

DEMOCRACY: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Council Meeting – Next Borough Council Not Till

26 May 2026 7:30 pm  – The Annual Meeting of the Council

Anyone can attend public meetings of the council. Most meetings take place on the 6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, TW3 3EB. Hounslow House is fully accessible. The nearest tube is Hounslow Central which does not have step-free access. Parking in local roads is limited.

Principal meetings are broadcast live on the Council’s YouTube channel

Emergencies

You can report emergencies outside office hours by ringing the council on: 020 8583 2222.

CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES

Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the seven Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn).

Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery). 

CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS

Chiswick Gunnersbury ward

Cllr Joanna Biddolph joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 703446

Cllr Ron Mushiso ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702887

Cllr Vickram Grewal vickram.grewal@hounslow.gov.uk 07904 184099

Chiswick Homefields ward

Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017

Cllr Michael Denniss Michael.Denniss@hounslow.gov.uk

Cllr Linden Grigg Linden.Grigg@hounslow.gov.uk 07779 436258

Chiswick Riverside ward

Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823