Tories romp to victory in borough and county polls

Jun 5 2009 By Russell Butt

THE Conservatives steamrollered their way to comprehensive victories at the Runnymede borough and county elections.

At the late evening count, at Egham Leisure Centre, Vicarage Road, on Thursday, June 4, the opposition parties were left licking their wounds after rampant blue candidates gained or retained every available seat - in nearly every case, securing the seat with more than double the next nearest number of votes.

Runnymede Council leader, John Furey, convincingly won the Addlestone previously held by fellow Tory Terry Dicks who stood down, and said the outcomes were the result of hard work and efficiency.

He said: "It was a whitewash, and it was a whitewash because both Runnymede and county members from the party run a tight, efficient ship.

"We care about our residents, it's their money we're spending. Value for money is our running call and I would like to thank all the residents that have continued to put their faith in Conservative candidates."

In a clear display of the party's overwhelming dominance in the area, the most significant win was Melville Few's who secured the Foxhills & Virginia Water county council seat with 1980 votes, more than three times that of second placed Liberal Democrat Alan Whiteley with 551 votes.

The tightest result was the borough by election spot for Englefield Green West, left by the resignation of Jack Perschke to pursue a seat in parliament. His replacement Conservative candidate, Peter Taylor, clinched the seat with 485 votes, with UKIP's Toby Micklethwait breathing hotly down his neck after securing 357 votes.

The victories could only have been all the sweeter for cherry-picking Labour's sole county council seat in the borough, which became available after Labour's Ray Lowther, 84, stepped down the seat, which he was first elected to in 1986.

Councillor Chris Norman took the highly sought seat, which gave the Conservatives a clean sheet on the night, and left the Labour candidates with little consolation.

Secretary of Runnymede & Weybridge Constituency Labour Party, Paul Greenwood said he felt the results were not a reflection of the current expenses crisis in Westminster, but more on poor communication.

He said: "Obviously those results are disappointing. It's a shame we weren't more successful as there was a lot of hard work done by all our candidates. I think the party is going through a hard time economically and politically, but I am confident that we can build on this and move on. Next year's elections will be even more exciting.

"I don't blame the current political situation in Westminster, what we need to do actually as a party is put our message out a lot clearer. We have not been effective enough at reminding people just how successful this Government has been."

Read more coverage from election night