ROSE HILL reports from the count at the ExCel Centre on another sign that Labour’s London juggernaut might just have a puncture…
Tory election winner: Catherine Gray, a Sutton councillor again (the Sutton bit of the backdrop is way down low…)
After a two-year absence, Catherine Gray is back on Sutton Council, the Conservative winning the St Helier West seat from Labour in Thursday’s by-election by just six votes. This, too, was an election in which ULEZ was to play a significant, though ultimately not decisive, part.
The declaration came last night at the ExCel Centre in east London, where Sutton and Croydon’s London election votes are to be counted today. The council by-election counts (there were two conducted for Croydon Council, too) were delayed until after all the London election ballots had been properly validated – and Croydon and Sutton were among the slowest to complete that process.
The St Helier West ward by-election ought to cause huge repercussions in the local Sutton Labour Party, and at the party’s regional headquarters, too, and could be a troubling indicator for Sadiq Khan supporters who already had the “jitters” over the possibility that anti-ULEZ sentiment might see him lose the mayoralty to Harrow hairdresser Susan Hall.
On a 43.7% turnout for the ward by-election, Gray polled 1,342 votes – 35.4% – to the Liberal Democrats’ 1,336 (35.2%) while Labour, who held the seat since the 2022 locals, slumped to third with just 682 votes – just 18%.
The Liberal Democrats, who control Sutton Council, will also be bitterly disappointed at the outcome for their (deeply uninspiring) candidate Noor Sumun, after they channelled much of their local campaigning resources into this ward by-election.
That the Conservatives, when polling so badly nationally, can win a council seat in a ward set around a former council estate where the local NHS hospital is such a major issue is also an indication of deep-seated problems within Labour.
Labour had heralded the triumph of winning three Sutton council seats at the local elections in 2022 – their first wins in the borough for 20 years. But they are now down to two…
Sutton Council
St Helier West by-election resultCatherine Gray (Con) 1,342 (35.4%)
Noor Sumun (LibDem) 1,336 (35.2%)
Margaret Thomas (Lab) 682 (18%)
Kingsley Hamilton (Ind) 367 (9.7%)
Renos Costi (Ind) 62 (1.6%)Turnout 3,789 (43.7%)
The St Helier West by-election was called following the resignation of Labour councillor Sheila Berry. As Inside Sutton revealed, Berry resigned because she could not get on with her Labour group leader, Councillor Sheldon Vestey.
This by-election result means that Sutton Council now has 29 LibDem councillors, 21 Conservative, 3 independents, and with Labour reduced to the fourth largest group.
Gray, 38, works in public affairs and was a councillor in Sutton West ward from 2018 to 2022. It was Gray in her time on the council who secured an investigation into Sutton’s decentralised energy company, SDEN, and its dodgy business plan.
The close margin was attributable, in part at least, by the presence on the ballot paper of anti-ULEZ activist Kingsley Hamilton.
On the buses: Kinglsey Hamilton
Hamilton has become notorious as Susan Hall’s big red bus driver – the old Routemaster the Tory mayoral candidate has been seen on in her campaigning is Hamilton’s, and has regularly been clocked parked in Wallington.
Hamilton is a former Conservative member and was a member of UKIP. Last year he was arrested and charged with committing criminal damage and going equipped for theft when he was found in Bromley near a damaged ULEZ camera while reported to be wearing latex gloves, carrying tools and with “Fuck the ULEZ” stickers in his pockets.
Hamilton denied the charges, which were eventually dropped.
Given his political views, it surprised many – not least Sutton Tories – when Hamilton decided to contest the St Helier West by-election, the 367 votes he won nearly undermining Gray’s campaign.
At the count, Gray said she was “really excited to be back” and was “looking forward to getting stuck in”.
Asked for a comment on the loss of one of Labour’s seats on Sutton Council, a senior figure in the party locally appeared dumbstruck with disappointment: “I think everyone was pretty exhausted after 10 hours at the count.”
The local party later issued some consoling words about their losing candidate, Thomas: “So proud of our excellent candidate Margaret Thomas for running a hard-fought, fair and honest campaign in St Helier West. Her great passion for and work for St Helier will continue.”
None of which addresses the fundamental issues that surround the increasingly toxic feel to Labour in Sutton, where Vestey continues to focus his efforts on social media pile-ons against another St Helier West Tory councillor, Steve Alvarez.
Either that, or the suggestion that Keir Starmer’s Labour is some kind of irresistable cat-nip for voters is beginning to wear a little thin.
Meanwhile, there were two further by-election wins yesterday for the Tories, who retook a council seat in West Putney and held another in Hillingdon East.
This, too, is likely due to the anti-ULEZ campaigns in outer London having some impact, and provides further concern for Sadiq Khan and “jittery” London Labour.
Read more: Now Tory newspaper turns against Tories’ fringe candidate Hall
Read more: Sordid spat leads to Sutton Tory councillor’s suspension
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
Let’s face it, Labour have been piss poor in defending Sadiq Khan, ULEZ, LTNs and the environment, and have avoided tackling Islamophobia, IDF genocide and climate change deniers.
And why vote for Starmer’s ersatz conservative politics when you can vote Tory and get the real deal, complete with racist hatred and fear mongering
That is the strongest evidence presented that Khan is toast. Strongly discordant with the opinion polls. Perhaps Hall will get Hamilton tooled up to chop down some traffic lights to celebrate her victory.
There is a conspiracy theory, of sorts, that suggests that the far-right, yellow-boarder nut-jobs who have placed so much faith in the Harrow hairdresser to deliver for them the Utopia of a ULEZ-less London, were deliberately ramping up the anticipation so that, when Khan is announced as the winner later today, they can claim, in full-on Trump mode, that the “election was stolen” through the postal ballots.
Take a look at the racist, Islamophobic tweet from that prize arsehole Kelvin MacKenzie and you’ll see what I mean.
Khan is toast? Khan is toasted Mayor of London, elected for the third time. He’s a modern day Dick Whittington
I’m afraid that Hillsborough Kelv has blocked me. Don’t fancy looking at his rancid doings anyway.
Suffice to say, DelBoy, he will have met all of your expectations
Unfortunately the Lib Dem campaigns in Sutton are designed to mislead. Although this particular seat had been held by Labour their leaflets were claiming ‘Labour can’t win here’. They were also claiming in the mayoral election ‘only the LibDems can stop the Tories’ using a bar chart of the local elections for comparison, – yet they always come a poor third in mayoral elections. Unfortunately they do convince some Labour sympathisers to vote for them and then carry out Tory policies, outsourcing many services and aggressively marketing ‘the right to buy’. By depressing the Labour vote they often manage to benefit the Tories. Disgraceful campaigning.