Yesterday evening, I was at City Hall in London to watch the Mayoral
proceedings unfold. While the evening delivered the expected result of a Boris victory — incidentally, YouGov was the
"http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/7823218/boris-wins-the-popularity-contest.thtml">most accurate pollster once again, with Peter Kellner calling 52 vs 48 to Boris at 7:30pm — it was
a tense affair. Missing ballot boxes and broken counting machines in Brent and Harrow delayed the final announcement until nearly midnight.
Amid the confusion, I managed to speak to Dan Hodges, Blairite blogger with the Telegraph, who said early on he still believed that Boris would prevail and discussed Ed Miliband’s
"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17962934">egging in Southampton. The LSE’s London election expert Tony Travers provided some insight into how the second preference voting system
works and Chuka Umanna, the Labour MP for Streatham, told me he was delighted with Labour’s 800+ gains in the local elections but was unsure of a Ken victory. He also clearly ruled out running for
Mayor himself in 2016.
Here are the audio clips for CoffeeHousers:
6:00pm – Dan Hodges on Labour’s performance today
7:30pm – Tony Travers from the London School of Economics on how close the race remains
8:45pm – Chuka Umanna MP on Labour’s gains and successes today
Why use a system that is so complicated and different form any other method? Who devised this system? A lot of people did not fully comprehend what exactly happens to the 2nd choice. KISS. then we all gain.
Kingstonian
Erm, I managed to find the UKIP candidate by taking the admittedly difficult decision to look down the left hand column of the voting paper where the party affiliation of each candidate was listed and not rely on the text underneath each candidate’s name.
I have never assumed that I am that much smarter than the average Londoner; perhaps I should go up in my own estimation.
strapworld
Can you believe such incompetence? UKIP & FARAGE: THE MAYORAL BLUNDER. John Ward reports that In what must rank as one of the greatest electoral cockups in British history, UKIP has admitted that its London Mayoral nomination papers were filled in wrongly, meaning the party’s candidate Lawrence Webb – and candidates for the London Assembly – were listed under “Fresh Choice For London” by mistake.
The party were hoping for two seats on the London Assembly after polling at 8%, but at the end of the day, all those faithfully cast votes counted for nothing, zilch, zero – nul points. Party leader Nigel Farage said the unforgiveable blunder probably meant large numbers of would-be supporters assumed UKIP was not taking part in the ballot, and gave their vote to someone else. Er….and also 8% of the London electorate cast their vote for nothing. What a bloody shambles.
Nigel the Nonplussed told reporters, “We can only put our hands up and say sorry to voters who wanted to back us but couldn’t find our name on the ballot paper. We hoped and expected to get two seats, but this has cost us dear. It is a lesson hard learned.”
A lesson hard learned, eh? Perhaps UKippers everywhere need an open debate about what the real significance of this ‘hard learned’ lesson is. But for The Slog, it’s what it has always been: UKIP’s organisation and leadership is pure AmDram codswallop.
Woody
Having visited London recently, this city does not remotely represent what the rest of this country is like. In fact, quite the opposite. I couldn’t wait to get back home and I can’t see myself ever going there again. David Cameron should stop trying to please the metropolitan lefties and start representing the vast majority of people in the rest of the country.
Mudplugger
We should not be surprised if a few ‘missing ballot-boxes’ and ‘broken counting-machines make another guest appearance in the Greek election this weekend.
Perhaps City Hall yesterday was just a dress-rehearsal for the international fixers.
telemachus’
Such a shame we do not get chance to vote for Ken again
He who put London on the map
He who will be feted for getting the Olympic Torch to London
We must pay due homage.
PS-Nicholas 10.28-Are you blind:Boudicca is a straight down the line right wing blogger who has the wall rumbled.
Moriarty
That’s lovely. What did you have for breakfast…?..you know we hang on your every word.
Tarka the Rotter
The View from North Yorkshire…London City Hall politics has no bearing on our lives and is but a sideshow…there is an enemy within, a fifth column working assiduously to limit our freedom and destroy our way of life, and that enemy is the political class, the Con/Lab/Lib – o – crats. We need a new political and constitutional settlement, that’s the message of these elections, the message from the 63% who did not engage because there is no point in doing so. Less government, more democracy, fewer taxes…
