Sadiq Khan was re-elected with 84,725 votes compared to 50,976 for Susan Hall. Photo: Leon Neill/Getty
It was a day that began with some hope (or was it wishful thinking) that Sadiq Khan might be overthrown in London by his Tory rival, heralding a revival in the fortunes of the party and government.
But it ended with Mr. Khan going on a trip. to a comfortable victory and an unprecedented third term at City Hall.
Reality, cold and unshakable, began to set in as the results began to come in.
Shortly after 12.30 it was announced that Merton and Wandsworth, Mr Khan received 84,725 votes compared to 50,976 for Susan Hall.
In Greenwich and Lewisham he was ahead with 83,792 votes compared to 36,822 for Ms Hall.
These two results have seen corresponding swings from the Tories to Labor of 5.1 percent and 4.5 percent respectively since 2021, giving Labor supporters increasing confidence that this will be reflected across the capital.
As more results came in from the London mayoral election, Professor Sir John Curtis said there were «pretty good signs» that Mr Khan would win a third term.
«These are good results for me and Sadiq Khan. Think about the speculation that emerged late last night and may have been misplaced this morning,” he told the BBC.
Indeed, shortly before 2 p.m., Labor sources backed by Mr. Mr. Khan, who had just captured the West, Central from 54,481 to 43,405 — began the race for his man.
The result in West Central was a huge blow for Ms Hall as she came into a constituency where Shaun Bailey beat Mr Khan in 2021.
“If the Conservatives had their hopes up last night, they, Must be feeling pretty sluggish today. » Sir John told the BBC with characteristic understatement.
Ms Hall's first win of the day was in Bexley and Bromley, where she received 111,216 votes compared to 48,952 for Mr. Khan, did not bring much consolation.< /p>
Although Ms Hall managed to win a few areas outside London — no doubt partly a reflection of Mr Khan's dissatisfaction with the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone — it was not enough.
At 15 :57 Press Association announced that Mr Khan has been re-elected as Mayor of London for a third term.
Despite all the talk of a close race or even an upset, he won by 11 percent, with 43.8 percent of the popular vote. Ms Hall received 32.7% of the vote, with a majority of 276,428 votes.
Following a bitter election campaign, tensions were evident between Khan and his Conservative rival after the results were announced. When Ms Hall went to congratulate the mayor, it appeared he had not noticed her hand at first and was belatedly shaking it.
Mr Khan's victory speech was briefly interrupted by booing from the far-right Britain First party. whose Candidate walked off the stage shouting to the Mayor: “Khan killed London.”
The electoral irrelevance of the Britain First party was underlined by the fact that the party was beaten by Earl Beanface, a satirical candidate who describes himself as «an intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclones from the planet Sigma IX, Lovejoy fan, London mayoral candidate and expert form-filler.» .
In his speech, Mr Khan criticized «fear-mongering» and «right-wing views». populism», addressing supporters.
“We have faced an ongoing campaign of negativity, but I am very proud that we have responded to fearmongering with facts, to hate with hope, and to efforts to divide with efforts to unite. We ran a campaign that was true to the spirit and values of this great city.
“A city that sees our diversity not as a weakness but as an all-powerful strength, and a city that rejects hard-line, right-wing populism and looks forward to not back.»
Ms Hall, meanwhile, used her own speech to criticize Mr Khan's record on crime.
“What's most important to them and to me is reforming the Met and making London safe again,” she said . “I hope Sadiq makes this his top priority. He owes a debt of gratitude to the families of the thousands of people who have died as a result of knife crime during his mayoralty.
“And I also hope he stops patronizing people like me who care. This is not an episode of The Wire. This is real life. On his watch.»
Mutual recriminations from the Conservatives
Recriminations soon erupted over the Conservative Party's handling of its mayoral challenge.
Paul Scully, party MP Sutton and Cheam, a former minister in London, said the party had «shot itself in the foot from the start».
He said the decision to pick Ms Hall was a «choice». failure» and said she was too right-wing for London.
Highlighting the controversial incident when Ms Hall liked a photo of Enoch Powell on Twitter, he said: «You can't get away with saying, 'Oh, I accidentally liked Enoch Powell's tweets.' I don't see Enoch Powell's tweets in my timeline… so it looks like broader issues.»
Mr Scully had initially sought the Conservative nomination for mayor but was left out of the shortlist as three other candidates made it through: Ms Hall, former No 10 councilor Daniel Korski and QC Mozammel Hossain.
Mr Scully's omission from the shortlist in favor of Mr Hossain — a relatively unknown candidate with no previous political experience who was quickly dubbed «The Mysterious Moz» — raised eyebrows.
Korski fumbles charges
Then the trial The selection plunged into further chaos when Mr Korski withdrew from the competition due to groping allegations, which he denied.
Mr Scully said the party had missed the opportunity to redraw the shortlist at that point.
“When the shortlist went wrong when Daniel Korski was dropped, we could have taken a different course of action, but I I think Conservative campaign headquarters [CCHQ] didn't take this election seriously,» he said. He said the Tories then ran a campaign that was too negative and that Mr Khan was » ready to take.”
“The whole campaign was 'keep mentioning Sadiq Khan and just saying he's inadequate'. » he said. «You can't sit there, wallow in the mud and just throw things at the mayor. You have to develop a positive vision.»
Asked if CCHQ had written off the mayoral race from the start, he responded: “Yes… I think that's fair.”
'We defied the polls'A campaign spokesman defended Ms. Hall's performance, saying: “We ran a campaign guided by common sense conservative principles and defied the polls.»
“The hard work, tenacity and determination embodied by our candidate Susan Hall has propelled our vote well above the party polls in this great city.
“Our message has exceeded expectations, our candidate has won the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Londoners through her brutally honest campaign.»
Sir Keir Starmer, who earlier in the day said he was «confident» of Mr Khan's victory, welcomed the result.
Even though it was not always saw eye to eye with Mr Khan, he wrote on social media: «Congratulations to my friend Sadiq Khan for winning a historic third term as Mayor.
» Londoners voted for results, not headlines, hope, not fear, and unity not division.»
He also hinted at the possibility that Mr Khan could soon work with a Labor government in Westminster for the first time since becoming mayor in 2016
Sir Keir said: “I look forward to working with him as he continues to deliver to London.”
Свежие комментарии