Defections since 2002 (A-K)

The two Newham defections join a list of Cllrs who have changed sides since the last Borough elections in 2002. The following is a list of currently known defections (although additions/corrections welcome).

This list excludes Cllrs who temporarily defected and then returned home ... more common than you'd think.

Bexley

Cllr Nickolas O'Hare (East Wickham) was the sole Lib Dem Cllr but joined the Tories in August 2005 ... only months after being the Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate in Old Bexley and Sidcup. The other two Cllrs in East Wickham are Labour, making O'Hare's seat one of the top Labour targets in this ultra-marginal Borough. O'Hare has now moved out of London to Dartford in Kent,and is reported not to be standing for re-election.

Brent

Cllr Carol Shaw (Brondesbury Park) defected from the Tories to the Lib Dems during the Brent East Parliamentary by-election campaign in September 2003. Call me cynical, but it’s interesting that people suddenly get the urge to defect during an election campaign (see Camden), when it will get them more attention. Shaw has represented the Brondesbury and Cricklewood areas since 1990, and so far held off strong Labour challenges in Ken Livingstone hardcore territory.

Bromley

Cllr Rod Reed (Kelsey and Eden Park) was elected as a Tory, but became an Independent when he stood against the sitting Tory MP in Beckenham at the 2005 election. Reed had been Chair of Beckenham Conservative Association, and was one of the voluntary party's most public putters of the boot into Iain Duncan Smith. Reed accused Beckenham MP Jacqui Lait of ineffective representation of the constituency. He lost his deposit with only 1.7% of the vote.

Camden

Cllr Jonathan Simpson (Fortune Green) moved from Lib Dem to Labour during the 2005 general election ... on the same day as Bryan Sedgemore went the other way. A surprise to outside observers from a previous Lib Dem Parliamentary and GLA candidate, who in the 2004 GLA elections said "people are tired of the arrogance of Labour in Camden". He revealed that he was a Labour Party member until 1994, and said "the Lib Dems’ stance on crime and anti-social behavior is weak and on the economy, I was very disappointed with their opposition to the minimum wage." At the point of his defection, he was the Lib Dem Chief Whip at Camden

Croydon

Cllr Patricia Knight (Fairfield) was elected as Tory but is now Lib Dem. In between times she's been reported as being an Independent and applying for membership of the Labour Group. She served previously as a Labour Cllr before being re-elected as a Tory. Perhaps she's just collecting the set.

Harrow

Cllr Gordon Williams (Pinner South) was elected as a Tory Cllr in 2002, but within six months had defected to be an Independent. He has been reported as saying that “I did not "declare" to become an Independent, or "defect" on a whim, but on a matter of local principle” ,,, "as a practising Christian I was finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile the machinations of the Harrow Conservative group with the teachings of Holy Scripture". He’s been a key swing vote in a hung Borough with a minority Labour administration, particularly in budget votes.

Cllr Adam Lent (Edgware) was elected as Labour but is now listed as an Independent.

Havering

Cllr Jeffrey Tucker (Rainham and Wennington) was elected as one of three Councillors for the Rainham Residents Association … but he’s now an Independent and the other two have left the Council in odd circumstances. Brian Clarke had a lengthy period of invisibility, culminating in his resignation from the Council shortly before he was thrown off for non-attendance. Tucker and Wayne Redgrave ware approached by the Tories who needed one more seat to have a working majority on the Council … they agreed to defect and Redgrave was given a special allowance for the newly created “job” chairing the ‘Rainham Committee’. Tucker then changed his mind and became an independent … whilst Redgrave resigned from the Council.

Hounslow

Cllr John Connelly (Hounslow Heath) was elected as a Labour Cllr, but has subsequently been suspended by the Labour Group. This follows a series of accusations and counter-accusations about Standards issues within the Labour Group, and particularly between Connelly and current Labour Leader Colin Ellar. Connelly was first elected as a Cllr over 20 years ago and was the Leader of the Council until 2002 and Mayor for the year after.

Cllr Peter Hills (Bedfont) resigned from the Lib Dems to become an Independent in August 2005. He was reported as saying “elements within the (local Lib Dem) executive had been working to undermine” him by misrepresenting details of his private life to residents in Bedfont … "I am disappointed that the many years I devoted to promoting the party both as an activist and a councillor should be swept aside by a group of people whose collective contribution to the party is to have depleted the coffers and antagonised many members”. Sounds like a fun life in the Hounslow Lib Dems.

Islington

Cllr Dave Barnes (Highbury East) … now this one is complicated. He was originally elected in the 1980s as a Labour Cllr, but then defected to the Lib Dems. He was re-elected as a Lib Dem in 2002, but then defected to be an Independent a few months later. Last year he became a member of the local –parking-obsessed Freedom Party. This month he rejoined the Labour Group.

Cllr Richard Heseltine (St Marys) was elected as a Lib Dem but defected to be Independent. This month, as part of a row about parking rights involving his second home, he said he said he was considering joining the Tories if Kenneth Clarke is picked as their leader. “I think he’s an attractive prospect”, he said.

Cllr Joan Coupland (St Marys) defected from the Lib Dems to Labour a few weeks after she ended her term as Mayor this year. She indicated that her motivation was the “dictatorial” style of the Lib Dem Council and particularly the cuts they had made to services for the elderly … “Over the last five years, I have watched as services for some of Islington’s most vulnerable residents have disappeared”

Kensington and Chelsea

Cllr Jennifer Kingsley (Cremorne) defected from the Tories to become the first ever Lib Dem Cllr in the Borough. She subsequently also became the local Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate. Kensington Tories are reported to blame this on the failure of their usual heavy-handed loyalty checking of candidates in Cremorne ... as the ward (under different boundaries as South Stanley ward) had been consistently the only Labour ward in Chelsea, largely due to the Worlds End Estate.

... boroughs from L-W to follow in a future post