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Mehfuz Ahmed celebrates his Church Street win |
‘Now there’s no such thing as a safe seat for the Labour Party’
Conservatives make history with victory as government is rocked by latest election defeat
WHILE the Labour Party reels from its crushing defeat in the Glasgow East by-election, another piece of significant political theatre has been largely overlooked.
In fact, if the Labour candidate in last week’s Church Street ward by-election had not been a former member of the pop band Blur, the poll might not have registered at all beyond the Westminster streets.
Yet Mehfuz Ahmed, the Conservative candidate, made history with a victory that has left Labour veterans startled at what it might mean for the future.
Never before has a Tory won Lisson Grove’s Church Street and, in the 44 years it has formed part of Westminster City Council’s ground, it has always been Labour red.
The ward dates back further to the old days of Marylebone council but, however far you go back, the idea of a Conservative winning has never before been seriously entertained.
Cllr Ahmed’s victory, by more than 300 votes from Rowntree, has been celebrated by Tories across the borough and beyond.
The ballot was triggered by the death from cancer in June of 72-year-old Labour councillor Tony Mothersdale, who had lived in the ward all his life.
He had never looked like losing his seat on the council.
Mr Ahmed, who grew up on the Lisson Grove estate, insisted he had won on local issues and that residents “trusted his face”.
But, on a wider scale, Labour MP Karen Buck might have a right to feel nervous by the swing away from her party as she prepares for what is now certain to be a tough defence of her Westminster North seat at the next general election. She was already considered a major target for the Conservatives and will be counting on support from voters in Church Street.
She said: “I think it is clearly a disappointing result. It shows the government are clearly unpopular at the moment – that is mostly to do with the global economic situation.”
The ward is in the top 2 per cent most deprived areas in the whole country, bordered by Regent’s Park in the north, Bryanston and Dorset Square in the south-east and Little Venice to the west.
And, however confident Ms Buck remains, those who know the ward’s historic Labour support are not so sure.
Illtyd Harrington, the former Labour leader of Westminster Council and former deputy leader of the Greater London Council, said: “It can’t be overstated. It’s like the apes leaving Gibraltar or the ravens leaving the Tower of London.”
Church Street has an illustrious history, from Elizabeth Jacobs, the first female Labour candidate in the 1920s, to Lord Lucan’s mother, Kait Lucan.
It welcomed the borough’s first black councillor, Sylvester Williams, in 1906, only the second black councillor in the UK.
The significance certainly has not escaped the area’s former Labour councillors, some of whom say the result spells doom for the party across London.
Mr Harrington added: “If there was before, there really isn’t such a thing as a safe Labour seat today. Old Labour members will be turning in their grave at the result.”
Audrey Millar, the mother of education campaigner and ex-Downing Street aide Fiona Millar, and a long-term Labour supporter who lives in the ward, had a more upbeat assessment.
She said: “It’s not as bad as people are making out. We’ve got two excellent councillors, and an excellent MP. I’m full of hope for more Labour victories in the future.”
While head-scratching has gone into overdrive among the old guard, the Labour leader and the ward’s current councillors are playing down the the result. Councillor Barbara Grahame, who has represented the ward for 14 years, said its relevance was being exaggerated.
“The turnout was very small and I don’t think you can read too much into it,” she said.
“It’s certainly not the doom and gloom some are saying. If the election was held two weeks later we might have had a very different result. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the national picture, but I do think people probably thought it was too much hassle so soon after the mayoral elections.”
She added: “We haven’t had an inquest yet, but I think the loss has less to do with difference in policy or what we didn’t do and more to do with ethnicity.
“We certainly weren’t complacent, because the last election in 2006 was so close. I can’t see anywhere where the candidates particularly differed in terms of policy. The problems and solutions to those problems in Church Street have always been the same. We need more housing and open space.”
Her sentiments were broadly echoed by the leader of the Labour group, Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg.
“Yes it’s a bitter pill to swallow with the history and everything,” he said.
“We are disappointed that the Conservatives put a lot of pressure on the Bangladeshi community to get votes. This is not the right way to engage in politics. It should be about politics, not ethnic background.”
The new incumbent painted a different picture.
Mr Ahmed said: “It’s disgusting people are saying I won because I got the Bangladeshis to vote for me.
“Firstly, the numbers say different and secondly it wasn’t only me campaigning. The reason I won is because people are fed up with Labour here. They’ve lost their way, become stale and haven’t delivered. I think they’ve taken Labour votes for granted for too long.
“Obviously it helps that I’m a local boy, people know and trust my face, but policy plays a big part. I was campaigning on crime, especially facilities for youths. That’s what we need more than anything and that’s what people want.”
The facts about Church Street ward
• Church Street is in at top 2 per cent most deprived areas in the country in terms of income;
• 131 council homes in Church Street are in need of another bedroom and
19 are in need of at least two or more – almost three times the national average;
• 200 Church Street children are classed as living “in need”, compared to six living in Marylebone High Street;
• Fve times as many pupils claim free school meals.
RESULTS:
| Candidate |
Votes |
% |
% Change |
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| Mehfuz Ahmed (Con) |
955 |
53 |
24.4 |
| David Rowntree (Lab) |
652 |
36.2 |
-3.7 |
| Martin Thompson (Lib Dem) |
176 |
9.8 |
-0.3 |
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