Comments on: London Assembly Seats

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:07:25 +0000

I found an old newspaper from May 1977, which had a picture of Mrs Thatcher and (Sir) Horace Cutler celebrating with champagne, by the river outside County Hall,
and the paper’s headline was
“Tories capture GLC in councils landslide”.

There was an amusing article, where one of the staff was interviewed, and mentioned “a smart lady trying to get in by the glass door”.

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:18 +0000

Yes that is ironic.
Thank you both for the details.

The 1967 result was a true landslide. IIRC, the GLC had 100 members then and it was 82 Con to 18 Lab,
even more decisive than the 1977 result which was 64 to 28.

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:03:14 +0000

The odd thing though about 1970 is that although the Conservatives easily maintained control of the GLC in April the general election results were disappointing for them in June.

By: H.Hemmelig

H.Hemmelig — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:28:03 +0000

I think the GLC administration of 1967-73 was regarded as one of the most popular and effective. Many of London’s post war infrastructure improvements, especially roads, date from this time (eg. the Blackwall tunnel widening). Much of the investment programme was unfinished, being interrupted by Labour’s victory in 1973 and by the oil shock and economic recession that quickly followed.

David Boothroyd’s site has some great statistics and information on the history of the GLC.

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:30:21 +0000

I stumbled across the GLC election results on Wikipedia.

I had never given it a thought before, that the Conservatives had decisively (in seats at least) won/retained control of the GLC in 1970,
presumably in May (General Election in June).

Surely this should have been a warning that all was not quite well for the government.
Although apparently outside London Labour did do quite well, and this influenced Harold Wilson.

As discussed elsewhere, London can produce above or below average swings, but it is often a good indicator of the overall national situation.

By: toryanorak

toryanorak — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:15:25 +0000

Hi Pete, Joseph, any chance that I can get the breakdown as well?
For Lambeth (or Lambeth & Southwark as I think they are one constituency).

I would really love to see how things have changed in the borough.
Please email me at toryanorakATgmailDOTCOM.

Thanks.

By: Joseph Brayson

Joseph Brayson — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:35:13 +0000

Thanks Pete

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:55:56 +0000

check your email joe

By: Joseph Brayson

Joseph Brayson — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:30:27 +0000

I wonder if anybody has the 2004 ward level data from the londonelects site as I am comparing it with the 2008 data. Thanks

By: Joe James B

Joe James B — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:57:42 +0000

Although it was a notable achievement for the Conservatives to win the London elections in 2008,
it was not a landslide.
These are the 1977 GLC results –

Greater London Council election, 1977
Political Party
Votes
Share of Vote (%)
% Change
Seats Won
Seats Change

Conservative 1,177,390 52.5 +14.5 64 +32
Labour 737,194 32.9 -14.5 28 -30
Liberal 174,405 7.8 -4.7 0 -2
National Front 119,060 5.3 +4.8 0 0