Philip Collins
(Picture: Daniel Hambury)The good people of Westminster have taken their revenge on the Conservative party. After five years and more in which the Conservative party has used “Westminster” as a shorthand to describe the metropolitan elite which is, apparently, rigging the system in its own favour against the neglected provinces, Westminster took the opportunity to make its point at the polls. It is no surprise at all that the Tories were kicked out and Labour took control of Westminster council.
It is hard to credit that, six years to the day, Boris Johnson was stepping down from his second consecutive term as Mayor of London. The Conservative party was competitive and interested in power in the capital. Now, it has all but given up. In the local elections on May 5, Labour won 21 councils to the five held by the Tories. With the exception of Kensington and Chelsea, the Conservatives have been thrown out of inner London. Harrow and Hillingdon to the north-west and Bromley and Bexley to the south-east are the first time a traveller through the capital would encounter Tory territory.
