Should the Mill Hill Council Election and the Hendon Parliamentary Election be rerun?

Do we live in a banana republic in Barnet? I had an extraordinary conversation with a local Conservative activist today. What never ceases to amaze me is that some of the most honest people in Barnet politics seem to be a small band of Conservative activists who still support the Tories, but who are disgusted with the local party. Before anyone asks, the person isn't Dan Hope or David Miller. He asked me if I would be supporting Andrew Dismore in his legal challenge to the result (should he decide to lodge one).

I immediately said "No, I have no dispute with the result. None of the discrepancies would have affected my result, so it would purely be sour grapes and being a bad loser".

He then said the following "That really isn't the point. The point is that law was broken and even if it made no difference to the result, the election should be restaged. If we ignore the law when we hold elections we are no better than a banana republic".

Now there are very good practical reasons why I think it would be a waste of time rerunning the election. Firstly the cost. It wouldn't be cheap. The taxpayer would have to pay it and for what?
Secondly given the margin in the Council Election, it really wouldn't have affected the result. As to the General Election result. I suppose conceivably, it might. The margin was 105. We don't have any estimates of how many people were affected as we hadn't asked our tellers to actually count any people affected. Mr Dismore had no tellers at the polling stations so his evidence would surely be more anecdotal. Thirdly, just suppose the election was rerun and Andrew Dismore won. In the big scheme of things would it really affect that much? Labour would still have a huge number of seats less than the Conservatives. Things have changed since May 6th, so it wouldn't necessarily be any fairer on the voters.

Having said that, my Conservative friend made one point which I can't think of a logical way of refuting. The election was without question botched. Things happened at certain polling stations which, if proven,  are without question illegal (I am not going to discuss what they are here). The only way Barnet Council and the people involved will ever get them right in future is to be taught a harsh lesson.

As I said, I don't think that a rerun is the way forward, but a full proper, transparent enquiry must be held. The results must be published. If it transpires that these were minor problems, they had no effect whatsover on the result and no laws were broken, then that is the end of the matter.

If the problems were administrative blunders and could be shown to be caused by a completely unexpected and unpredictably high number of voters, and by poor training resulting in people not understanding election law and not enforcing it, then if the result was not affected in a provable manner, then we need to learn the lessons for next time. End of story.

But what if it can be shown that there was a darker side to all of this. What if there was deliberate "problems" in wards which could affect the result in anticipation of a tight result? In this case, even if as it turned out, the council result wasn't affected, can it be allowed to stand? What is the point having laws if they are not followed? Now I don't actually believe this was what happened, but just suppose and investigation shows it was? That is a completely different ball game and it would trouble me. As an affected party with an axe to grind, I don't think it would be right or proper for me to comment as I have a clear interest. I would be happy to abide by whatever decision a truly independent panel of experts decided, end of story.

So to answer the question in the title - Should the Mill Hill Council Election and the Hendon Parliamentary Election be rerun? No I don't personally think they should. If a full investigation finds they should be restaged, then so be it. What we do need to do is to investigate the whole fiasco properly and fully publish the results. I have written to Nick Walkley -CEO of Barnet - requesting a meeting to discuss this and I will explain in detail my concerns. I am seeking to ensure that such things never happen again in the London Borough of Barnet. I hope all politicians on all sides agree that a proper investigation is the way forward, with full disclosure of the findings. Lets learn the lessons of Thursday and transform Barnet into a model council for others to look up to.

Barnet Election Special - 10am News - Chaos at Colemanville

Well in my last update at 7pm last night I predicted it would be close. I wasn't wrong. Andrew Dismore lost out in Hendon ward by 150 votes. In the first count it was only 90 votes. Earlier in the evening a friendly Tory activist had told me "Matthew Offord will romp home".

As to the council elections, you may wonder what is happening there. They have not been counted, that will start at around 11am. There was a large turnout inspired by the general election. I genuinely don't know what the result will be.


A word must be said about the organisation of the count. Barnet Council erected 3 marquees to house the three constituency counts. These were absolutely freezing cold. Many of the staff drafted in had no winter clothes. They were there from 9pm, till the count was declared. I felt extremely sorry for them. The whole operation seemed shambolic at times. We were told that Hendon would declare at around 3am. At 7am, they had the first recount. I spoke to a Tory activist who had stood previously in Brent. He said that Brent are extremely efficient and he said that the way Barnet handled the election was poor. It is customary to thank the returning officer - in this case Mayor Brian Coleman as the man responsible. Lets just say he didn't spend too much time in the freezing cold tent.

I'm off in a minute for the council count. If I win my council seat, then the first thing I will do is try and ensure that for future elections a suitable venue is found. If I lose, the world is my Lobster. Unlike some of the career politicians, it isn't the end of the world for me. I was chatting to one of the Mill Hill Tory candidates, Brian Schama. Like me it was his first time standing for council. He said that whatever happened he was glad he took part as he has got to know Mill Hill a lot better. He said that observing the election close up is fascinating and it's worth it for the experience. I have to agree.

A last word on the general election in Hendon. Congratulations to Matthew Offord. It's fair to say I don't see eye to eye with him, but I hope he does a good job for the people of Hendon. I also hope he enjoyed his night. It was a long one and there were some tired and emotional people at the end. As to Andrew Dismore. Commiseration and thank you for all of your hard work in Hendon. Whatever people may say about Andrew, he has worked hard for the constituents. Finally to our candidate Matthew Harris. He worked hard in a seat he was never likely to win (apart from for 48 hours after the first leaders debate). I am sure we'll see more of Matthew. Thanks for your work on the campaign

Mill Hill Election Special - 7pm update

So we're nearly there. 3 hours to go. How's it going? It seems to be going well, but it will be tight. There has been a huge turnout, especially among new voters, who we have no idea how they'll vote. If you haven't voted, get out and do it. In 1994 the Lib Dems won the a seat in Mill Hill by 12 votes. If those voters had decided to watch Eastenders and not vote, the whole history of Mill Hill ward would be different. Will it be that close again? Who can tell.

What is the feeling on the ground? We've had a good response. Polling is especially brisk in some districts. We saw our first Labour canvassers of the campaign this evening in Mill Hill half an hour ago. I bumped into one of the Tory candidates from the last council election, Matt Dreisin.Had an interesting chat about the dynamics of the ward. His advice "You can't take Mill Hill for granted". I certainly don't think we've done that. Will all of the work be enough? Well it certainly will be if the people who've said they will vote for us do. Whatever your views, if you want someone to get in, either at Council or at National level, then vote for them. You have three hours. Time is tight and so will the result be.