British National Party member Richard Barnbrook has been elected to the London Assembly. He gave a great, drunken acceptance speech.
Barnbrook received 69,710 votes for Mayor, while on the (far) left, the Socialist Workers Party‘s candidate, Lindsay German, got a mere 16,796. (As the Respect candidate in 2004, German got 61,731 votes.)
Less than half of those eligible to vote (45.33%) bothered to do so.
First-preference votes:
1) Tory Party | Boris Johnson | 1,043,761 (42.48%)
2) Labour Party | Ken Livingstone | 893,877 (36.38%)
3) Liberal Democrats | Brian Paddick | 236,685 (9.63%)
4) Green Party | Siân Berry | 77,374 (3.15%)
5) British National Party | Richard Barnbrook | 69,710 (2.84%)
6) Christian Peoples Alliance and Christian Party | Alan Craig | 39,249 (1.60%)
7) UK Independence Party | Gerard Batten | 22,422 (0.91%)
EIGHT) Left List | Lindsey German | 16,796 (0.68%)
9) English Democrats | Matt O’Connor | 10,695 (0.44%)
10) Independent | Winston McKenzie | 5,389 (0.22%)
In the ding-dong battle between the SWP (Left List) and Respect in City & East, Respect (George Galloway) got 26,760 votes (14.28%) while the Left candidate got just 2,274 votes (1.21%), less even than the National Front with 2,350 votes (1.25%). In general, of fourteen constituencies, Left List (SWP) candidates managed to avoid coming last in nine, comfortably seeing off Veritas in Barnet & Camden, the English Democrats in seven seats (although being outpolled in seven others), the UK Independence Party in two seats (losing in the remaining twelve), and seeing off challenges from two Independents, Socialist Alternative (Chris Flood), Animals Count and the Socialist Party (David Lambert), and even managed to defeat a Christian in one seat (losing all others) in the race to the bottom.
More generally, the Assembly election witnessed a collapse in the Labour vote, few if any gains for the (far) left, and a minor increase in support for the (far) right (for the first time the BNP gained over 5% of the total vote, thus guaranteeing the Party a seat in the Assembly). As a result, according to Neal Lawson, ‘New Labour is now dead’.
It’s not all bad news for New Labour though: Tony and Cherie Bliar have reportedly bought the £4m former home of legendary actor Sir John Gielgud, the Bliars’ sixth property in their growing portfolio. Tony Bliar has earned more than £1m since leaving Downing Street last July, in speaking fees and as an adviser to JP Morgan Chase. Current Labour leader Gordon Brown has also been provided with an opportunity to show his sensitive side as a result of the Party’s drubbing at the polls, saying ‘he understands people’s “hurt”, in the aftermath of Labour’s worst local election results in 40 years’.
See also : Waking up to a different London
