Home
The local elections proved dreadful for the Conservatives but not quite perfect for Labour. The Conservatives lost 474 of the council wards in contention, ending up with 515; Labour gained an extra 186 to reach 1,158. Independents and others, some standing on the issue of Gaza, increased their councillors by 93 to 228, and took away Labour votes. George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain got four seats. Reform won only two seats but took votes from the Tories; it almost came second in Blackpool South, where there was a by-election which Labour won with 10,825 votes to the Tories’ 3,218. Ben Houchen (Lord Houchen of High Leven) won a third term as Mayor of the Tees Valley as a Conservative; Sadiq Khan for Labour convincingly won a third term as Mayor of London. Andy Street narrowly failed to be re-elected as the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands, beaten by Labour’s Richard Parker by 225,590 to 224,082. Members of the Garrick Club voted to let women join.
Most popular
Richard Dawkins
Will the Supreme Court gender case victors get the apologies they deserve?
John Swinney was elected leader of the Scottish National party after no one stood against him; the Scottish parliament then voted for his name to go to the King as its nominee for first minister. ‘The fact that I am the only candidate,’ he said, ‘demonstrates that the Scottish National party is coming back together again now.’ A man was found nailed to a fence in a car park in Bushmills, Co. Antrim, with a nail through each hand, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
China was blamed for the hacking of Ministry of Defence payroll information held by a contractor, with details of 270,000 service personnel.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in