BELLE MONT, InsideSutton’s political editor, on how time finally ran out for the Tories in the General Election campaign in Carshalton and Wallington
When the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats both moved most of their campaign resources into Sutton and Cheam for the last fortnight of the General Election campaign, you knew a concession had been all but made. Conservative Elliot Colburn was elected as MP for Carshalton and Wallington in 2019 with a wafer-thin majority of 629, ending the 22-year tenure of Liberal Democrat Tom Brake.
The long goodbye: Elliot Colburn’s hold on the Carshalton and Wallington seat was only ever temporary
But now, the LibDems once again hold complete control over Sutton, with both MPs and a majority on the council, just as they did more than a decade ago when Brake and Paul Burstow held sway, even enjoying brief periods playing at being part of the Tory-led coalition government. Burstow paid the price with his parliamentary seat in 2015, but the LibDems’ role as austerity enablers appears all but forgotten now.
In the 2024 General Election, the move away from the Conservatives, coupled with a strong showing from disgruntled Tory voters switching to Racist UK, saw LibDem Bobby Dean elected comfortably as the Carshalton and Wallington’s MP, polling 20,126 votes, a 43.1% share, and a very comfortable-looking majority of 7,905 over Colburn.
Dean played a relatively safe but vigorous campaign, the culmination of months of torture-by-leaflet for residents. It worked, nevertheless.
Adding it all up: senior Sutton Council officials Tim Martin (monitoring officer), CEO Helen Bailey and Richard Simpson (finance), discuss some doubts
Dean was elected as a councillor in The Wrythe ward as recently as May 2022, but he has come under fire for not standing up for his residents over the Beddington incinerator, which has flouted emissions regulations dozens of times, spewing out toxic chemicals and particulates.
The same issues had been pursued, albeit ineffectually, by Colburn. Dean has focused on the dumping of sewage into the River Wandle, while remaining oblivious to choking pollution in the air that residents are forced to breathe.
Dean has something in common with his LibDem colleague elected in Sutton and Cheam, Luke Taylor, in being a bit of an opportunist and electoral tourist. He stood for the Liberal Democrats in Deptford in 2017 and 2019, before turning up in Sutton in 2020.
Together with his wife Gemma Munday, also a LibDem councillor (St Helier East ward), and his dog, Chester, Dean has charted a path to victory (usually along his beloved but polluted Wandle), despite an overemphasis on his own council house credentials that made him come across like the son of a toolmaker.
In his acceptance speech on Friday morning, Dean first thanked Colburn for his service to the community, and then said he was “standing on the shoulders” of Tom Brake. He thanked his wife, but failed to mention Chester, who got more election coverage than Dean himself.
Dogged performance: new MP Bobby Dean
This was a tough night for Colburn, who arrived near the end of the count and who avoided mingling even with his fellow Conservatives. Colburn wears his heart on his sleeve and was probably trying to avoid emotional turmoil. He delivered a speech in defeat that was generous to his opponent and to the residents of Carshalton and Wallington. It was a “wrench” to leave, but the implication was he’d be back.
Colburn is still just 31. There was little he could have done to turn back the national tide of anti-Conservative feeling. The Reform defectors were just an extra steel toecap onto the shins. His social media had become full of messages to the effect of: “You’re a great bloke Elliot, but I just can’t vote for you”.
Labour parachuted in Hersh Thaker from north-west London as their candidate. Although he visited the borough, he only increased the Labour share of the vote marginally, keeping them a whisker ahead of Reform. This will be a big disappointment to Labour’s small and under-resourced band of activists in Sutton.
The victory provides the LibDems with the resources of another MP that the party in Sutton will surely make the most of to try and keep the council yellow in 2026 – with Dean and Taylor, both local councillors, making no announcement of any imminent intention to resign from the council to necessitate any by-elections before the next local elections.
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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
