Sadiq wins with no problems. Nobody was worried at any point. Why would you even say that?
Plus expensive phone boxes and why the BBC is killing pigeons
Compared to some other parts of the country, London’s election news was pretty boring really. But it wasn’t looking that way to some people on Friday evening…
At this point only four of the 14 constituencies had declared, but that slim 24,267 difference was enough to make a few people sweat (including inews who were using phrases like “major upset”). Although cooler heads pointed out that these numbers were likely a result of a lower turnout (42% of eligible Londoners voted in the end, down from 45% in 2016), and some voters choosing a smaller party for their first preference.
As Peter Walker of the Guardian tweeted, although there was going to be no first round landslide for Sadiq, Bailey’s second round support was slim:
By late Saturday it was clear that Khan was going to be comfortably reelected, although they took their own sweet time getting there. At around 11pm the count looked like this: 1,206,034 votes to Khan (the second highest total in the history of the London mayoralty), and 977,601 for Bailey. That’s a majority of 228,433, again the second highest on record.
Just in case you’re keeping track, that’s a winning margin of 10.4 per cent, smaller than 2016’s 13.6 per cent, but bigger than either of Boris Johnson’s victories.
If you haven’t heard Sadiq’s acceptance speech yet, here you go:
And if you’re wondering why it took so long to announce the Mayoral result, this might have had something to do with it:
Classic City & East!
Of course, the most upsetting news to come out of the weekend is that L**rence F*x received more votes than Count Binface (F*x received 47,634 to Binface’s 24,375). We should remember though, that one of them is a (relatively) well known actor with a decent campaign budget, and the other one is a guy with a bin on his head. So not bad going, all things considered.
Fox did lose his deposit though, along with pretty much everyone else, including the Lib Dems who only got 4.4% of the votes. And Binface did beat Piers Cobyn, so there is hope for humanity yet.
London Assembly bits
All 14 London Assembly Constituency places were held by their incumbent parties, although the Greens beat the Tories into second place in both Lambeth & Southwark and North East.
The only other real thing of note was over in West Central where Tory Tony Devenish saw his majority cut from 14,564 to 2,225, probably due to his opposition of the cycle lane on Kensington High Street.
As for the London-Wide Assembly, the Greens had a good weekend, picking up an extra seat and bringing their total to three.
The Lib Dems and Conservatives also picked up one extra seat each. Labour were the only party to lose a seat.
In total then, that means Labour have 11 seats on the Assembly, the Tories now have nine seats, the Greens have three and the Lib Dems have two.
And the rest
Stop press: Overnight a whale stranded in the Thames at Richmond Lock was freed and is now with a vet to “assess whether it is strong enough to be released back to sea.”
Coming up in Wednesday’s newsletter: we interview Felix Von der Geest, founder of Politics Relaxed; aka the kids who made Brian Rose ‘rage quit’.
Just a couple more politics stories to get through. First up: Get your tiny violins out because Boris Johnson is having to rent out his townhouse in Camberwell so he can raise money to pay for his divorce and that flat refurb. According to the Mirror, Johnson and Carrie Symonds have taken a buy-to-let mortgage on the property and could be looking for around £4,000 a month in rent.
The Guardian office in King’s Cross has been covered in neon pink paint. According to the Camden New Journal the ‘attack’ was down to the Burning Pink party (i.e. London mayoral candidate Valerie Brown). Ms Brown’s campaign manager, Ram Salgado-Touzon was apparently the man wielding the fire extinguisher, which was deployed because the Guardian broke “their climate pledge”… Oh, and they failed to “report on Ms Brown’s campaign.”
Maybe next time they should save the poor buggers who have to clean all that paint off a job, and project their message instead. It’s been working for the so-called “secret crypto projectionist” (copyright Financial Times) who has been lighting up various buildings across the city (including the Bank of England, the BBC and the Houses of Parliament) with his pro-Bitcoin slogans. Now Cryptonews claim to have unmasked the mystery sloganeer… by looking at which Twitter account is around to take photos whenever the Crypto Projectionist strikes. Spoiler: It’s a bloke called Dominic Frisby.
Speaking of the BBC, animal rights campaigners are claiming that the Beeb is starving pigeons to death at their Maida Vale studios. As you can see from the tweet below, a pest control company was hired to get rid of pigeons nesting in the roof of the building, but instead of being removed, the birds were trapped in their nests by wire and the police were called after residents complained about nests being destroyed and birds dying.
Guess how much it would cost you to buy a single red phone box. Did you say “between £30,000 and £45,000”? No, of course you didn’t because you’re not insane, but that’s the guide price that’s been set on each of the four boxes in Bloomsbury, EC2, Chelsea and Waterloo that have been put up for sale by property company Bidx1. Be warned, even if you’ve got a spare forty grand lying around, you’re not allowed to remove the boxes or “alter the exterior,” so any Doctor Who phone box cosplay is totally out of the question.
Wilton’s Music Hall (“the oldest Grand Music Hall in the world”) has had a bumpy ride in the past few years, even before Covid forced it to close. But the good news is that the Grade II-listed venue is set to reopen at the end of May after a bit of a refurb (they’ve got new seats), although capacity had been reduced to 100. You can see the full list of show coming to Wilton’s on their site.
The Savoy has just opened its Solas Terrace, i.e. the popup they’ve created in their courtyard entrance. Being The Savoy they haven’t just stuck a few patio heaters and some picnic tables out front. Instead they’ve installed “a huge five-metre chandelier installation dripping with crystals, decanters and stoppers, and a slate and granite Bowmore bar inspired by the black rocks of the Scottish coastline where the whisky is made.” If that’s still a bit low key for you, then there’s also golden palm trees that light up when it gets dark. You can book a table here.
Somewhere which is still to announce its reopening is the Rex Whistler restaurant at Tate Britain. The fine dining space is named after the man who painted the mural which adorns its walls. Called The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats, the mural was commissioned in 1926 and depicts “the enslavement of a Black child and the distress of his mother using highly stereotyped figures that were common at the time.” Riiiiight. After the brilliantly-named Instagram account The White Pube brought wider attention to Tate’s ‘amusing’ mural last year by asking “How do these rich white people still choose to go there to drink from 'the capital's finest wine cellars' with some choice slavery in the background?” there has been a question mark around the restaurant’s future. Now, the Tate has told Eater London that “a consultation process will help determine the future of the Rex Whistler room and mural.”
