Now the elections are over Lambeth Conservatives are settling in for the long haul. There was only one winner on Thursday May 4th - the new Leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron. The Conservative Party became the biggest party in London with 787 seats compared with Labour's 684 and the Liberal Democrat's 317.
In Lambeth, we fell agonisingly short of a breakthrough in Clapham Common and Clapham Town - by 42 and 63 votes respectively. We lost only one seat - Cllr Bernard Gentry was not returned in Clapham Town. Nevertheless, our inclusive one-nation campaign struck a receptive chord throughout the borough with the Conservative vote doubling in most wards from Streatham in the south to Waterloo in the north. Cllr Clare Whelan had the highest vote of all the 63 councillors elected on May 4th.
Win or lose the Conservatives in Lambeth are always in business again within 24 hours of polling day. We're setting an example to the other parties with a 50:50 balance of men and women among our elected councillors. They talk about equalities, but we do it. In the next four years Lambeth Conservatives, inspired by David Cameron, will take our message to every street and estate in the borough. It's our opponents who will run and hide not us.
In the meantime, a big thank you to everyone who supported us on May 4th. We also welcome three completely new councillors to our group - Suzanne Poole, Graham Pycock and Andrew Gibson. But enough about the results, it's time to move on - ever onwards, ever upwards. And the one thing to remember is that Conservative councillors are around all the year round not just at election time.
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