Totteridge council by-election snub to Brian Coleman

The results for the Totteridge byelection (above) are fascinating. On the face of it a rather predictable victory for the Tories in one of their safest wards. Compare that result with the 2006 council elections.

2006 Local Council Elections Results

Candidate	Party	Result
Cornelius, Richard Alan	Conservative	Elected: 2464
Coleman, Brian John	Conservative	Elected: 2461
Margo, Caroline Sara	Conservative	Elected: 2304
Cardow, Anna Maria	Liberal Democrat	695
Cole, Michael Maurice	Liberal Democrat	627
Fitzsimmons, Janet Audrey	Labour	600
Jarvis, Frederick Frank	Labour	561
Mcdougall, Robert Thomas James	Independent	959
Newby, Andrew John	Green	687
Smuts, David Andrew	Labour	509

Ward turnout: 42.51%

There are a couple of things I noticed in this most Tory of Barnet heartlands. The most striking is that there was a 15% increase in the vote for the Conservatives. Generally, council byelections suffer a very poor turn out, compared to full council elections, especially when the result will have no effect on which party runs the show. It would seem to me that the reason is obvious. The name Brian Coleman did not appear as a Conservative candidate on the ballot form. Could it be that when his name is not there, 15% more Barnet Tories actually feel comfortable voting Conservative. As taxes have gone up, money has gone down the Icelandic plughole, Aerodrome Road has burnt taxpayers cash, the council has lurched from crisis to crisis, can there be another reason? It certainly isn't because they are doing a good job.

It is also interesting to note that both the Labour Party and the Lib Dems also increased their vote. I suspect that there are few places in the country where more people voted Labour at this byelection than at the last Council election. Surely this has to be a reaction to the Sheltered housing warden cuts. I must confess I expected the Labour vote to crumble, in light of Gordon Brown's problems on the National stage. I honestly never expected more people to vote Labour in Totteridge for this byelection.

It is disappointing to see that the Greens didn't put a candidate up. I suspect they may have done very well, for the protest vote.

Congratulations to Councillor Alison Cornelius, I hope she does a fine job representing the people of Totteridge. She can look across the breakfast table at her husband Richard tomorrow and smile in the knowledge that she's far and away the most popular Tory in Totteridge. She has the numbers to prove it! Who is the least popular? The figures speak for themselves !