Camden News: Brian Coleman | Election | Barnet

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Camden News - by SIMON WROE
Published: 8 May 2008

Brian Coleman

Coleman breezes home

CONSERVATIVE Brian Coleman was uncharacteristically lost for words yesterday (Wednesday) – despite his comfortable win in the election for the Barnet and Camden seat on the London Assembly.
Asked why he thought he had won, he said: “I’m not giving media interviews this week.”
Mr Coleman, who beat Labour opponent Nicky Gavron by nearly 20,000 votes and saw his share shoot up by 7 per cent, is in the thick of the fast-moving developments at City Hall and has already been appointed by new mayor Boris Johnson as London’s Fire and Emergency Planning chairman. It is his reward for eight years as an assembly member during which he has turned the constituency from a marginal seat to a Conservative stronghold.
Opponents say he
concentrates more of his attention on Barnet than Camden when it comes to the split constituency, and that he doesn’t have to worry about it too much because the sheer numbers living in the Conservative heartlands in Barnet are always likely to be too stiff a challenge for the historic support for Labour in Camden.
Conservative colleagues in Camden have warmed to him over the years for taking the fight to Ken Livingstone and he has been described as knowing City Hall like the “back of his hand”.
Mr Coleman, however, has not seen the last of Ms Gavron, who was returned to the assembly by virtue of the list system which sees 11 seats topped up using proportional representation.
She was number one on Labour’s list and knew she had the safety net of a probable return when she was sent into Camden and Barnet to try to stoke up support among waverers. Ms Gavron has also been credited for helping to keep the turnout high in a bid to stop the BNP from gaining seats on the assembly, although the far right party did manage to exceed the 5 per cent threshold needed to gain a seat.

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