Results in detail

Lambeth and Southwark
Florence Eshalomi (Lab) 96946 (51.63) -1.18
Robert Flint (Con) 34703 (18.48) -0.89
Rashid Nix (Green) 25793 (13.74) + 2.23
Michael Bukola (LD) 21489 (11.4) -0.2
Idham Ramadi (UKIP) 6591 (3.51) +0.72
Kevin Parkin (Soc) 1333 (0.71) -1.15
Amadu Kanumansa (APP) 906 (0.48) n/a

North East
Jennette Arnold (Lab) 134307 (58.7) +5.63
Sam Malik (Con) 32565 (14.23) -4.37
Samir Jeraj (Green) 29401 (12.85) -2.61
Terry Stacy (LD) 14312 (6.26) -0.64
Freddy Vachha (UKIP) 11315 (4.95) +1.5
Tim Allen (Respect) 5068 (2.22) n/a
Bill Martin (Soc) 1293 (0.57) n/a
Jonathan Silberman(Trot) 536 (0.23) n/a

South West
Tony Arbour (Con) 84381 (39.47) -0.37
Martin Whelton (Lab) 62937 (29.4) + 0.7
Rosina Robson (LD) 30654 (14.34) -2.34
Andree Frieze (Green) 19745 (9.24) -0.6
Alexander Craig (UKIP) 14983 (7.01) +2.11
Adam Buick (Soc) 1065 (0.50) n/a

We don't contest elections to get the maximum number of votes but we do hope to avoid a really derisory score. On this last our unstated aim was to avoid getting less than a four-figure vote. Which was achieved. 0.5% means that out of every 200 people who voted 1 voted socialist or, since there was a 49% turnout in South West, one in every 400 people you pass in the streets there (or watch Brentford play). In the other places we contested you'll have an even better chance of crossing a socialist voter.

Our vote in Lambeth and Southwark was down. This will be due to the fact that we changed our candidate. We do say that it's the case not the face that counts and rightly but we can't control how even our sympathisers see things. Danny Lambert, who has stood as our candidate many times in the Lambeth area (and in this GLA constituency last time), was well known as the candidate for socialism but this will have been name recognition and association with us rather than a personal vote. There was also one more candidate than last time and the number of candidates standing also affects things. That candidate was from the All People's Party, a breakaway from the Labour Party in Southwark. They can't be very pleased.

We didn't finish bottom in North East either where, after "Workers Power", the "Communist League" was the second Trotskyist vanguard to suffer the indignity, for them, of being beaten by the SPGB despite them standing on a programme of attractive reforms and us standing only on the maximum programme of socialism and nothing else.

Kippered

So, the UK indpendence Party has gained its first MP - in honour of that occasion, let us look at their position in the London elections.

Well, last time, they got two members on the GLA - who promptly jumped ship to join Veritas [Who they? - ed.] and disappeared into oblivion under the later name of One London. (Are yous till awake at the back there?).

As a party, now, their aims are simple - they don't like furriners and don't want them - no furriners 'ere, pelase, guv'nor - oh, and lower taxes more taxis and an end to the congestion charge. Tories on crack, if you will.

Let's let them speak for themselves:

Law and Order – Punish the guilty and protect the innocent

Get the police back on the streets preventing and detecting crime

The police should only have one target – to reduce crime

Transport – Get London moving, economically and efficiently

Scrap congestion and emission charges

Keep traffic and parking restrictions to a minimum

Reduce tube fares and make tickets flexible

Reduce the tax burden – Give Londoners value for money

Money will only be spent on the services and projects that benefit all Londoners equally

Cap the cost of the Olympic Games

No cash for cronies and quangos

A vote for UKIP is also a vote to say:

NO to mass immigration

NO to the Lisbon Treaty/European Constitution

NO to the European Union

That from Gerard Batten's entry in the mayoral booklet.

They've obviously been to the Iain Paisely school of NO! To be frank, with Tory Johnson doing right-wing dog whistle politic, and him pretending to be as fond of referendums as they UKIPpers are, they're likely to get squezed at this election, as only ringht wing wingnuts deserve, really.

At present, despite being Britains fourth largest party, they are a long way from holding any substantive officem, so they can afford to make oppositional hyperbollic promises, btuas soon as responsibility comes, they'll act, look and behave exactly like any Tory group...

The candidates' manifestos

The official booklet, sent to all electors, listing all the candidates for Mayor and their programme (if they pay £10,000) has arrived. Fairly democratic actually, except of course for the £10,000 which one candidate apparently couldn't afford.

It makes informative and amusing reading.

We learn that, like Ken, the BNP is going for the Irish vote. A young student is featured saying "I'm voting BNP because I'm Irish and the BNP are the only party that cares about the indigenous peoples of these islands" and a builder says "We should celebrate things like St. George's Day and other Christian festivals like St. Patrick's Day instead of other festivals such as Ramadan and Eid".

The candidate of the English Democrats disagrees. His campaign slogan is "Save London from Labour's Tartan Taxes" and he complains that "currently £100,000 is spent on a festival such as St Patrick's Day whereas St George's Day is mocked with a screening of 'The Life of Brian' in Trafalgar Square". He ends up sloganising "Vote for England. Vote for Matt . . . O'Connor".

The Christian Party candidate isn't very charitable either. "Stop the mega-mosque at West Ham", he proclaims.

Apart from that, the BNP and Ken agree that pensioners should have 24-hour free travel passes and the Left List (aka SWP) and the Greens agree that the London "living wage" of £7.20 an hour should be forced on employers. The Left List candidate claims in passing to be a "socialist" even though she wants to keep gap between rich and poor but to make it smaller. UKIP wants to subsidise tube fares and reduce taxes both at the same time. Ken does his best to disguise the fact that he's the Labour Party candidate.

The candidates on the lists are also all listed as are those standing in the 14 constituencies. We are down as "The Socialist Party". This s-word only occurs in two other places. In the name of the "Communist" Party's "Unity for Peace and Socialism" list and of the Militant Tendency candidate in Greenwich and Lewisham who is standing as "Socialist Alternative" (not that he is).

Yellow Tories

aka Booting Brian

Ah, the Liberal Democrats, the cuddly party that is the genuine alternative to the tired old two party system. Put another way, the party for people who can't be honest enough with themselves to admit they're a Tory. See, they're not really Tories, when they cut taxes they do it with Muesli, or something like that.

Having seen what the rapacious Lib-Dems can do in office, in Lambeth and in Camden, with their Tory bed fellows - slashing funding to soft targets (community groups, meals on wheels, day care, advice services) we know whose side they feel their bread is buttered on.

So, when Brian Paddick offers the moon on a stick - lower crime, better policing, better environment - lower taxes we know just how it will be achieved. After all, he wants to end the housing problem, but look, Yellow Tories in Camden have begun selling off council houses to the private sector to pay for rennovations to stock (in Camden, it should be explained, tennants have voted against an Arms Length Management Organisation that is the Red Tories in government's prerequisite to release rennovation funding - we can thank John Prescott for that privatisation scheme).

But, look, they want to build trams - trams everywhere I tell you! as far as the eye can see, from Marble Arch to Stratford (£32 million) from Camden to Sarf London (£Millions and millions) - oh, and all Tram stops with have toilets and electronic information (strangely, the Lib dems in Camden only seem keen to open toilets in wards they control...hmmm), oh, and little green pixies who will grant your every wish...

Of course, the Fib-dems know they aren't winning here, but it doesn't hurt to use the mayoral electiions as an advertising spring board for their reign of cuddles.

More of the field

Page Six of this week's Streatham Guardian (10 April) has an article with photos on 5 of the 10 candidates standing in Lambeth and Southwark, among them "Danny Lambert Socialist Party of Great Britain". His photo shows him speaking in Hyde Park. Fortunately, we always say that it's the case not the face that counts.

Journalist Carla Lee writes of us:

Mr Lambert was a candidate for the party representing the Vauxhall constituency at the last General Election. He believes in socialism -- a system based on common ownership and democratic control, where goods and services are produced to meet people's needs instead of for profit, and one that can only come about democratically when a majority want it. The party is different to the Socialist Party and is based in Clapham.

Accurate enough except from the last sentence. Could she be implementing Lord Beaverbrook's old instruction to Daily Express journalists to always refer to the Labour Party as the "Socialist Party"? Not very likely since nobody any more thinks the Labour Party is socialist. More likely she is referring to the Militant Tendency which has attempted to steal this name from us. Without success since we'll be on the ballot paper as "The Socialist Party (GB)" while when they stand they have to call themselves "Socialist Alternative". Our anonymous friend in Lewisham can perhaps confirm that that's the label they're standing under there.

The next candidate featured is Jasmijn De Boo, of "Animals Count". Apparently she's the leader of this party which stands for an NHS system for animals and is reported to be backed by "Supermodel Twiggy and rock star Brian May".

Then follow the candidates of three nasty parties. The Reverend Geoffrey Macharia of the "Christian People's Alliance and Christian Party" (which wants to impose Christian values on the rest of us, including on ex and non Christians), Jens Winton of the UK Independence Party (who "wants a firmer line on immigration and for Britain to withdraw from the EU") and Janus Polenceus of the English Democrats (who wants a firmer line on immigration and for England to withdraw from the UK).

[To be read very rapidly and in small print:] Also standing are : Conservative, Green, Labour, Left List, Liberal.

Write-in voting

Just to further answer some of our enquirers below. When we call for a write-in vote for socialism (what could be called a spoilt ballot paper) we are not doing so because "electing Johnson will hasten [capitalism's] demise?" That would be a perverse and monstrous policy.

We want a write in vote, or a vote for a socialist candidate precisely because that is the speediest and most direct way of abolishing capitalism. We understand that, however misguided or foolish politicians are, there are limits to what they can do - mostly they can only alter the mood music of what the market demands. Voting for Ken, Boris or Brian won't get you them as mayor, only King Capital with a different sock puppet for a mouthpeice.

In the past, radical movements, such as in Argentina, have managed to use a spoilt ballot - effectively a political strike - to overthrow entrenched corruption and political malaise. We do not consider it to be a passive or ineffectual option (as Londonsocialist has just written, write-in votes will appear on a big screen, and be viewed by candidates and agents, imagine them wading through a million spoilt votes...)

I'm not lucky enough to live in Lambeth & Southwark any more, so I won't be able to cast my vote for a socialist candidate, but I most certainly will go to the polling station and cast my vote for world socialism, and nought but.

The mechanics (and electronics) of voting

There was a meeting of election agents last night at Lambeth (formerly Brixton) Town Hall to learn about the mechanics of the election. Each voter will get 3 ballot papers: a yellow one for the mayor, a peach one for the party lists, and a pink one for the constituency vote. So we'll be on the pink 'un. The organisers are anxious to avoid the fiasco of the last Scottish Parliament elections where voters were also faced with three ballot papers and when there were tens of thousands of rejected votes (and there are more electors in London than in Scotland). Whether they will succeed remains to be seen, especially as for the mayor you can vote 1, 2 whereas for the other two you just put one X.
Party tellers at polling stations are now entitled to harrass you for your electoral number before you go in to vote (rather than only after you come out, as up to now). They are being asked to be polite but there's nothing in the rules banning voters from being rude to them.
The count (for Lambeth and Southwark and 5 other constituencies) will take place in Olympia in West London on Friday 2 May. It is going to be done electronically (which means that, if it breaks down, the count could last as long as it has in Zimbabwe). The ballot papers will go into a scanner and then be shown on a screen. Spoiled and unclear votes will show up and be set aside for adjudication, as now, by the Returning Officer after discussion amongst the candidates' election agents.
If we come within 500 votes of 5 percent of the votes cast we will be entitled to demand a recount to try to get our £1000 deposit back. Which would delay the result by another 8 hours.

Don't vote for what you don't want

Two people commented on our election manifesto we posted yesterday, asking in effect what do we think they should do where there is no socialist candidate standing, as in Lewisham (sorry, Anomymous, we're not standing there or anywhere else in London, we just don't have the resources) and in the mayoral election. Basically, we never tell people how to vote but let them decide for themselves. We just say what we'll be doing: either abstaining or (better) writing "WORLD SOCIALISM" across our ballot paper.

The logic of this position is explained in the editorial in this month's Socialist Standard (see http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/standardonline/index.html ):

Don't vote for what you don't want

We don't have to accept the self-fulfilling prophecy that "capitalism is the only game in town".

Imagine that all the people in the world made a set of informed, collective and democratic decisions about what kind of system would best meet their needs and solve global problems. Would they choose a money and property system that forced nearly half their total number to try to survive on a dollar a day? Or would they prefer to organise production and distribution of goods and services on the basis of what they need, without the profit system?

Would they, if and when given the chance to vote, do so overwhelmingly for candidates who -- whatever labels they attached to themselves or their parties -- stood for the continuation of some form of capitalism? Or would they elect delegates, from among their own number, to initiate the process of setting up and running a fundamentally new form of world society, a system based on the common ownership and democratic control of the means of wealth production and distribution?

Would they embrace nationalism, involving armed forces paid to kill and injure other groups ("the enemy") with whom they have no quarrel? Or would they regard themselves and behave as citizens of the world, regardless of any geographical, cultural or philosophical attachments they may feel?

Would they divide themselves into classes, rich and poor, leaders and led, privileged and unprivileged, dominant and submissive, superordinate and subordinate, master and servant, powerful and powerless? Or would they, despite individual differences in abilities, personalities, interests, tastes, likes and dislikes, think and behave as members of the one human race, not perfect, sometimes fallible or irrational, but never deliberately cruel or anti-social?

Whatever words they use to explain or sloganise their ideologies, all parties except the Socialist Party stand for the continuation of some form of capitalism. From their point of view, a vote for their own candidate is best; a vote for one of their competitors is second best. Not voting could be a worrying sign of alienation from the system. Worst of all, a vote for the Socialist Party candidate -- or, where none stands, writing "Socialism" across the ballot paper -- would indicate the beginning of a resolution to replace capitalism with socialism.

Don't forget:

Before the first Labour government came into power, and when some members and supporters used to profess socialism as their eventual goal, there was some justification for the argument that: "The Labour hell is one degree cooler than the Tory hell." So "Choose the lesser of two evils."

Today, after successive administrations of the same system, the difference in temperature is too small to get excited about. The same applies to others lining up to be our government -- the Lib Dems, etc. We don't want them and we don't need them.

Support for socialism isn't a matter of campaigning to make the poor rich in today's terms of material consumption. That wouldn't be environmentally sustainable. The socialist aim isn’t even equality in the sense of sameness, like amounts of work contributed or goods and services consumed. Socialism is essentially about social equality, encouraging and enabling every human being to realise their full potential as giver and taker, not buyer and seller, in the context of society itself moving towards reaching its full potential.

Back on the campaign trail

OK, we're back again, here is the list of official candidates for the Lambeth and Southwark constituency in the GLA elections:

Lambeth and Southwark

Candidate name	Party name
Shane Collins	Green Party
Jasmijn De Boo	Animals Count
Shirley Houghton	Conservative Party
Daniel Lambert	The Socialist Party
Geoffrey Macharia	Christian Peoples Alliance
Caroline Pidgeon	Liberal Democrats
Janus Polenceus	The English Democrats Party
Valerie Shawcross	The Labour Party
Jens Winton	UK Independence Party
Katt Young	Left List

London Elects for the full listings.

It'll be interesting to see where we come. Be nice to beat Polenceus again. It would also be good to come in above the Left List. 1,000 votes? Why not.