'We Few, We Happy Few'.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the 114 people who voted for me to be Labour's candidate for the Lewisham Mayoralty. My offer was to modernise the Council to enable it to take advantage of new opportunities and to respond innovatively to the coming drastic cuts to the Council's budget. This was comprehensively rejected by the party membership in favour of a manifesto that promised far more than I thought would be possible to deliver. I accept this result.

I was grateful for the opportunity to offer my congratulations to the winner, Damien Egan, in person at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday night. I send my best wishes to the other defeated candidates. To my friend Paul Bell, my co-councillor and valued colleague Brenda Dacres and to the irrepressable Alan Hall. The fact that five people put themselves forward for selection showed that people thought that the Mayoralty was a prize worth fighting for. I think it was a pretty clean fight. At the end of the day we are all members of the Labour Party and we now come together to support the Labour candidate.

I offer two observations on the result. Firstly, I was extremely surprised by the low turnout (45%) The fact that less than half of members could be bothered to spend a few minutes filling out a ballot paper, less if you did it online, has to be a disappointment. Such a lack of willingness to do something as simple as vote, undermines the argument that the vast increase in party membership in recent years demonstrates that the Labour Party is building a mass movement. Secondly, Alan Hall and I, the two candidates with the most polar opposite views on the Millwall CPO, ended up a long way behind the other three candidates, fighting it out for the wooden spoon. This demonstrates that this issue is ultimately of less interest locally than elsewhere, something that many of us have always believed.

I would particularly like to thank Cllr John Muldoon for supporting me through this campaign. I do not think that I would have stood if it had not been for his encouragement. It is normal for politicians to speak about how humbled and privileged they feel for the support they have received. I usually find this language grating. But when it comes to John's support for me, I feel that it is entirely appropriate. I do not think that there is another Lewisham Councillor who is more respected for their knowledge, work rate, integrity and thoughtfulness than John Muldoon. Paul Bell has described him to me as a genius. When John stands to speak, people pay attention. Success is a many fathered child, but failure is an orphan, so the saying goes. Many people have sought to claim credit for saving Lewisham Hospital from Jeremy Hunt's attempts to close its maternity & A&E units. Yet it was the evidence of John Muldoon, as Chair of the Council's Healthier Communities Select Committee that proved decisive for Judge Silber in finding for the Council in the Judicial Review that it brought against the Secretary of State (see the full judgement here, paragraphs 195 & 196, page 40)  The fact that he has received no credit for this is deeply regrettable in my view. The fact that John has remained silent about it is to his eternal credit.

Wednesday's Full Council meeting was significant in another way as it was an opportunity to say thank you and farewell to our Chief Executive, Barry Quirk. Barry was seconded to Kensington & Chelsea Council following the resignation of their Chief Executive in the aftermath of the fire in Grenfell Tower. He has now resigned from Lewisham to become their new Chief Executive. I have always felt an affinity with Barry as we come from similar working class beginnings, him from Bermondsey and me from Deptford. I really admired his intellect, rigorous analysis, knowledge and wisdom. He was disdainful of sloppy thinking and set high standards which officers and members couldn't help but seek to rise to meet. As a local resident himself, he knew first hand what it was like to live in Lewisham and be on the receiving end of the Council's service delivery. He cared about the borough and lived the job. He knew how to speak to people. He was a credible voice that would be listened to whether he was speaking to Cabinet Minsters, senior civil servants, academics or a group of residents. So it came as no surprise to many of us when he was asked to step into the hugely challenging role at Kensington & Chelsea. I will miss his support and advice. Barry is committed to the public sector because he believes in its power to make the lives of ordinary people better. I am sure that he will be absolutely focused on the task of restoring the confidence of the people of Kensington & Chelsea in their public institutions. I wish him every success.