UCL Conservative Society

The last few days have been extremely exciting politically and I thought I would just share my views both on Cllr Davenport’s count, and on the election as a whole.

Being the keen bean I am, I was delighted to be invited to the count by Stuart, I had never attended such an event before, and I was intrigued as to how the proceedings would go. Though Stuart had been assured a number of times (by Tories I may add) that he would win, I remained sceptical on the basis that elections give shock results. The morning dawned bright and early, and unusually the count began at 9:30. Agonisingly, Dunchurch and Knightlow is not only big in population when compared to other wards, but also had a much higher turnout, 54% which meant that ours was the last ward to declare the result. There was a genuine buzz about the place, and activity was mainly focussed towards two marginals which as it turned out, we won. Much attention was rightly given to Stuart, because of his age and the highly negative campaign run by Cllr Ron Ravenhall, who appears to have shot himself in the foot.

Watching the papers being emptied from the boxes gave a real feeling of aprehension, especially as the early indications were that the race was far closer than was predicted. It even seemed at one point that for every vote Stuart picked up there were two for the libdems. Once the votes had begun to be counted for real it became apparant that we were in the lead, and by the end we were almost certain of victory. By the time the annoncement arrived, the Conservatives already knew they had won the council, with three seats gained overall. It could have been even better, with one Tory candidate losing by 17 votes! The announcement brought nerves and then brilliant scenes when Stuart became Cllr Stuart. It seemed everyone in the room, even some opposition parties were rooting for him and many congratulations were given by all. Naturally, Stuart lapped up the press attention and then was brought back down to earth when recieving his Cllr induction pack - which seemed to be bigger than your average tree, that is where the council tax goes these days it seems. All in all it was a fantastic morning, hopefully to be repeated for years to come.

Nationally, in my opinion, the Conservative party performed excellently. It is important to remember that we were sitting on quite a high level to start with, and to at least match that performance is proof that Cameron is achieving good results. Commentators always harp on about gains in the North. I am of the opinion that the foundations are there. My council is only one Tory away from gaining overall control. The result which I think deserves lots of credit is in Sunderland, where 3 wards were won by the Conservatives. Obviously, the complete turnaround in Bournemouth where 23 seats were won from the LibDems was also an incredible result.

It is great to have maintained our 40% record, and given London did not hold any elections I think we are well on track to form the next government, providing we keep out of any controversy.

Feel free to give your opinions.

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