London Mayoral Election

who'd have him - typo (sorry)

I think it is an indicator of how a lot of Welsh people are going to vote in the referendum.

I was just very surprised that Plaid did not do better and gain more seats (now 12).
I am not sure that the Tories did badly - they lost three seats and now have 11 seats; the Lib Dems did much worse - lost four and only have one seat now.
UKIP have 7 - which is quite a high proportion considering they got a big share of the vote in the UK election and only one seat.

Well, that is partial proportional representation for you (one block). Rather an odd system.

Meanwhile in London....

The Daily Mail has a surprisingly gushing article on our new Mayor - even describing him as 'handsome'!

Pictured with his wife and teenaged, mini-skirted daughters.

Khan

What a bunch of hypocrites writing in the Daily Mail!

I suppose the Conservatives have now realised how much damage was done and Goldsmith will be the scapegoat.

I was thinking that the papers have come out early (you mean online, of course, keep up Jalima)

Just read the whole Daily Mail article. I see it's managed to include all the smears while allegedly congratulating Khan. :-(

The by election was an excellent result, with Huw Irranca-Davies going for the Welsh assembly, and Christopher Elmore winning 52% of the vote in is old seat.
That required a lot of faith in the voters.

Jalima!!! There's no way I would pay to read the Daily Mail by buying a print copy!

Sorry," in his old seat". Anybody would think I came from Hull.

Just listening to Newsnight. It seems that Sadiq winning in London is down to Sadiq, but anything else is down to Corbyn. Typical.
Isn't Corbyn a London MP?

ITV said that Khan had been avoiding Corbyn as much as possible on the campaign trail.
or is that just a smear?

Haven't a clue. Maybe Khan has ideas to be the next leader of the party. Who knows?

I must admit I don't really care. I'm delighted for Khan, because he does seem to have reached out to a diverse range of people and has done it on his own terms. Not only has he had to remain calm in face of the Tory smears, but he's had a fatwa issued against him for supporting same-sex marriage.

Do you think if the Tories are found to have fixed last year's election that Sir Lynton Crosby will have to have his knighthood taken away from him?
That will probably make him the first person to have his knighthood awarded and removed in the same year.
Perhaps Cameron should have waited.

Just a smear, Jalima. Lots of those around.

Sadiq has won.

Zac thanked his team. Did that include Crosby?

Just a thought, but if Sadiq Khan won his election on an inclusivity ticket, wouldn't it seem a bit strange if the first person he excluded was a Londoner who just happens to be the leader of his party?

I don't think Corbyn had a part in Sadiq Khan's election. He may be a London MP /party leader but he didn't feature in the campaign to any great extent, he was hardly to be seen out and about. The London mayoral election has historically less to do with parties and their leaders, and much more to do with personalities and London issues. Which is why we had Ken followed by Boris. I think many Londoners ( me included) gave one of their 2 votes to Khan as a poke in the eye to the nasty campaign run by the Goldsmith camp. Plus the fact that Khan talks the right talk in terms of housing and transport etc. I hope he can now walk the walk!

Khan nominated Corbyn when he decided to stand for leader. Corbyn was at the private party last night.

The press claimed Caerwyn told Corbyn to stay away from Wales during the Senydd election - not true .

The press have a big problem with Corbyn, they are not use to a politician who refuses to dance to their tune , who refuses to abandon his principles and beliefs .

Who doesn't do photo shoots ,

A politician who doesn't care that his suit isn't Saville Row but cares deeply for the poor, the disabled, the homeless

The first politician to go to Port Talbot was Corbyn, Cameron went a few weeks later and didn't asked the Welsh First Minister to join the talks .

I see a peace in Corbyn , the peace one sees in a person who is true to their beliefs, I think the young people who have joined the party see this too

Johnson will be wondering what to do with all his spare time. He only has a few jobs left. MP, writer for a paper and Brexiteer. Mind you it probably only meant turning up for the odd photo shoot being mayor so he won't have much time to fill.

Ok to all of the above but still doesn't mean Corbyn was the driving force in Khan's successful election, any more than those who voted for Boris Johnson last time were influenced by David Cameron. I know Corbinistas think he is a great leader, who has principled views on nuclear weapons and the monarchy etc. Speaking as a Londoner, I know that housing and transport were the important issues, and Khan certainly focused on those issues in his campaign.

I do think "Yes we Khan" is a clever slogan!
ZG alas appeared too posh for his own good and was a bad choice of candidate from the outset, however "green" his credentials might have been. For me, just his background distanced him from such a high % of the London electorate. Now compare and contrast with the leader of the Conservatives in Scotland, Ruth Davidson, born and bred in Scotland, went to the local primary school, a signaller in the TA for two years, a former Sunday School teacher and a thoroughly down to earth woman, entirely open about her sexuality and able to relate to her supporters of all backgrounds.
Just as Labour is not typified by flat caps, whippets and "down t'pit " stereotypes, the Conservative party needs to ditch its "toff" image.
(Just as a PS my eye was caught by a reference to Mark Reckless by Jalima, now that is not a surname to inspire confidence is it!!!)

Who claimed Corbyn was the driving force behind .khans campaign? Khan fought on the same values as Corbyn

Livingston stood for London mayor as an independent

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/06/vote-ruth-davidson-zac-goldsmith?CMP=share_btn_fb

This might bring some reasoned sanity into the debate?

You are right, Frank Dobson (no, me neither) was the Labour candidate in the first mayoral election in 2000.
In 2004, the second election was held. After being re-admitted to the Labour Party, Ken Livingstone was their official candidate. He won re-election after second preference votes were counted, with Steve Norris again coming second.

I think it is great that London has voted for Khan and shown the world that London is an inclusive and forward looking city. He was a much more credible candidate from the start.
As for the 7 UKIP seats in Wales - representing the % of Welsh people that voted UKIP, the quality of the AMs reflects the paucity of decent candidates that UKIP can muster.
I was at a count on Thursday night (a fascinating insight into the way elections work BTW) and the leader of Welsh UKIP showed up. He got told off for using his phone in the count. And disappeared. I don't know whether he got thrown out or whether he had more important things to do than support his local candidate.
He's been elected as an AM despite the fact he is already an MEP so I don't see how he can do justice to both jobs.
Hamilton and Reckless presumably know nothing about Welsh politics.
Labour may not have an overall majority but suspect UKIP poor attendance may work in their favour.
I don't think UKIP gets its votes from farming areas Anniebach - I think it gets them from disaffected working-class people in poor areas, courtesy of the UKIP publicity machine AKA aspects of the UK media. It flummoxes me why else people in areas where there are no immigrants (because there are no jobs to attract them) are saying they are going to vote UKIP "because of all the immigrants".