A Personal Pledge Not To Bomb Syria
Local councillor Sam Hearn writes about his election week
A week in the life of …..
Friday 4 th May: Up early despite being at the Civic Centre last night to see the sealed ballot boxes arriving and being locked away. Radio reports make it clear that Labour's predicted clean sweep of London has not materialised. We drive to the Hounslow Civic Centre in the morning for “The Count”.
It is hard to adequately describe the scene of organised chaos. One very large room full of volunteers sitting at tables performing various arcane tasks involving rubber bands and pieces of paper. Meanwhile candidates and their counting agents mill around trying to stay calm, cool and collected.
Tensions rise when it is announced that postal votes from one ward have surfaced amongst the ballot papers of another ward. The ballot papers for all wards must now be checked to make sure that there are no more ‘foreigners'. Later, following persistent rumours it is announced that a box of postal votes has been found sitting unopened in the secure storage area. More delay.
Chiswick Homefields ward is the first result to be announced. Against all expectations Cllrs Rangit Gill, Joanna Biddolph and Ron Mushiso are elected for the Conservatives. They will make a good team. The Chiswick Riverside result is one of the last to be announced. Labour have polled well but we have also increased our vote. I am returned along with new Cllrs Mike Denniss and Gabriella Giles. Across the Borough our vote has increased but we have lost two of our previous eleven councillors.
Saturday 5 th May: It is John Todd's turn to run the councillors' surgery at Chiswick Library and I join him. We have only two visitors. Cllr McGregor joins us later for a coffee at Carluccio's. The conversation is wide ranging and upbeat. There are so many issues that must now be take up again. In the afternoon I try and arrange my out of control paperwork in some kind of order. Phone calls are made and received from scores of people. I make a stab at catching up with my emails.
Sunday 6 th May : After church to the Station House for lunch. Waves of exhaustion surge over me and then recede. It is hard to explain just how all encompassing and absorbing an election campaign can become. We deliberately introduced a lot of innovative techniques into this campaign and the impact of these needs to be reviewed. Sadly, as in most local elections national politics came to dominate discussions on the doorstep. Strange to think that I had to reassure a man in Isleworth that if elected I would not bomb Syria.
Monday 7 th May: I join friends for another stretch of our walk along the North Downs way. Rochester to Ditchling. Thankfully much of the walk is in the shade. The bluebell woods were spectacular. The scent brought back teenage memories of cross-country running in the Chiltern hills. We pause briefly at Kit Cotys Cottage the enigmatic remains of a Neolithic barrow burial site.
In the evening to the home of the Association Chair for an upbeat party celebrating the end of the Campaign. Happily, most of our councillors made it to the event along with many of the unsuccessful candidates from the east of the Borough.
Tuesday 8 th May: More catching up. I begin getting to grips with the induction material that the Chief Executive handed to me on Friday at the count.
Wednesday 9 th May : To the Civic Centre to take the councillors oath and have a new photograph taken. I attend the compulsory briefing on the councillors' code of conduct and declarations of interest. Mike Denniss with his legal background tells me he found it interesting!
Thursday 10 th May: Back to the Civic Centre in the evening for a reception hosted by the Chief Executive and the Mayor. A chance to meet fellow councillors and senior officers in a relaxed atmosphere before we get down to hard work. The first Borough Council meeting is on the 22 nd May.
Cllr Sam Hearn
May 13, 2018