The Cities of London and Westminster has elected a Labour MP for the first time in history.
Labour candidate Rachel Blake therefore becomes the first Labour politician to represent in the Houses of Parliament a constituency which includes Buckingham Palace.
Blake, whose party came third in 2019, won with a majority of 2,708 over Conservative candidate Tim Barnes.
On a historic night for the area and the country more generally, Blake said: “I think it does show a change in British politics and I am delighted to have been given the chance to represent this area.”
The constituency had been seen as a three-way fight, with the Liberal Democrats having ran the Conservatives close in 2019.
But that turned out to not be the case, as a positive night for Ed Davey’s party nationwide was not reflected locally, with candidate Edward Lucas receiving just 11.1% of votes.
And so, King Charles III woke up this morning as the first British monarch to be represented by a Labour MP, one of the many former “safe seats” to turn from blue to red, in a disastrous night for the Conservative Party.
A Labour MP representing an area consisting of the Ritz and Mayfair mansions would once have been unimaginable, but the changing nature of British politics means that this result was anticipated.
Reflecting on losing an area once considered safe by the Conservatives, candidate Tim Barnes said: “Clearly there is no such thing as a safe seat anymore.”
Barnes was magnanimous in defeat, congratulating the winning candidate moments after the announcement, in keeping with a hard but fair election campaign.
But he did not hold back on his view of senior members of the Conservative Party.
He said: “The Conservatives have had a terrible night and I hope we take time to think and reflect on what we want to see as the agenda for the future and who might be the right person to lead us in the next few years.
“I’m very disappointed that senior members of the party have used their acceptance speeches and platforms this evening to begin their leadership election campaigns whilst making statements saying we should listen whilst telling us what it is we should be saying.”
Nationally, Reform exceeded expectations but in the Cities of London and Westminster, an area that voted overwhelmingly to remain, they failed to cause any shocks, narrowly coming fifth to Green candidate Rajiv Sinha.
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