Alperton By-election candidates

 The Green Party decided no to stand given the circumstances of Anton Georgiou's resignation and urged the Labour and Conservative parties to do the same. See LINK

The by-election, ususually,  takes place on a Tuesday: February 18th 2025.

Previous election results in Alperton ward and the changing ward population profile

An area undergoing rapid development

 Alperton ward had, until Cllr Georgiou's resignation yesterday, two Liberal Democrat councillors and one Labour so a by-election will be highly marginal.

COUNCIL ELECTION RESULT MAY 2022

 It was a winter by-election on January 23rd 2020 that gave the  Liberal Democrats their breakthrough:

Labour was hit when their candidate became embroiled in controversy over his alleged support for Bob Blackman, a right-wing Conservative MP LINK

A major issue in the ward is recent  and rapid high-rise developments and an issue that Cllr Georgiou was vocal on in the Council speaking at Planning Committee meetings on the problem of densification and lack of infrastructure.

The new developments have grown the population from 11,009 at the 2011 census to 15,056 in 2021. The population will have grown further since then.

The ward has a high Asian population and the majority religion is Hinduism. Those statistics may change when new comers move into the high rises.

Source: https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/london/wards/brent/E05013496__alperton/

 

Final list of candidates in Brent East and Brent West plus Queens Park by-election

BRENT EAST

Nida Alfulaij, Green Party candidate

Dawn Butler, Labour Party

Jenner Folwell, Independent

Zbigniew Kowalczyk, Reform UK

Amin Moafi, Independent

James Mutimer, Workers Party

Jamila Robertson, Conservative Party candidate

Aadil Shaikh, Independent

Jonny Singh, Liberal Democrat

 

BRENT WEST 

Ian Collier, Reform UK

Baston De'Medici Jaguar, Green Party candidate

Barry Gardiner, Labour

Nadia Klok, Workers Party

Paul Lorber, Liberal Democrat

Sushil Rapatwar, Conservative Party candidate

 

QUEEN'S PARK COUNCIL BY-ELECTION

Virginia Bonham Carter, Liberal Democrat

Ricardo Davies, Green Party

Emily Sheffield, Conservative Party

Lesley Smith, Labour Party

 

Queens Park by-election will be held on July 4th

 Dated: Thursday 30 May 2024 Kim Wright
Returning Officer
London Borough of Brent,
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ
Printed and Published by the London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Brent

NOTICE OF ELECTION

Election of a Borough Councillor
For the Queens Park Ward
To be held on
Thursday 4 July 2024

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT

1. An election is to be held for a Borough Councillor for the Queens Park Ward.

2. Nomination papers may be obtained from the Electoral Services Office, Brent Civic Centre,
Engineers Way, Wembley HA9 0FJ.

3. Completed nomination papers must be delivered to the Returning Officer at the address shown
above from the day after the date of this notice, weekdays between 10am and 4pm but not later
than 4pm on Friday 7 June 2024.

4. If the election is contested, the poll will take place on Thursday 4 July 2024 between the hours of
7.00am and 10.00pm.

5. Applications to register to vote must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by midnight on Tuesday
18 June 2024. Applications can be made online: www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

 
6. Applications for a Voter Authority Certificate or an Anonymous Elector’s Document valid for this
election must reach the relevant Electoral Registration Officer** by 5pm on Wednesday 26 June
2024. Applications can be made online: www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

 
7. Applications to vote by post or to change existing postal, postal proxy or proxy votes must reach the
Electoral Registration Officer at the Electoral Services Office address shown above by 5pm on
Wednesday 19 June 2024. Applications can be made online at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote and
www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

 
8. New applications to vote by proxy must be received by the Electoral Registration Officer at the
address shown above by 5pm on Wednesday 26 June 2024. Some applications can be made
online at www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote

 
9. Applications to vote by emergency proxy at this election on the grounds of physical incapacity; for
work/service reasons; or photo ID is lost/ stolen/ damaged/ or voter ID not received, must reach the
relevant Electoral Registration Officer ** by 5pm on Thursday 4 July 2024.

By-election for election of a Queens Park councillor

 From Brent Council website:

NOTICE OF CASUAL VACANCY

A Local Government Councillor for the Queens Park Ward in the London Borough of Brent

Notice is hereby given under Section 87(2) of the Local Government Act 1972 that a casual vacancy exists for the office of Councillor for the Queens Park ward of the London Borough of Brent.
 

Requesting a by-election

A by-election is only triggered by local government electors requesting a by-election to take place.
 

This requires TWO local government electors within the London Borough of Brent giving notice to the Proper Officer of the authority that an election should take place. 

Holding a by-election

On receipt of the requests to fill the vacancy, the Returning Officer will set a date for an election to be held within 35 days.
 

All requests for a by-election regarding this Casual Vacancy must be sent to the Proper Officer at: Chief Executive’s Office, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley HA9 0FJ or by email to
kim.wright@brent.gov.uk or Chief.Executive@brent.gov.uk
 

Kim Wright, Returning Officer
(Proper Officer for the London Borough of Brent)
24 May 2024

Conservative petitioners lose Barnhill By-Election court case and will have to pay £68,000 costs

 

The result declared on January 24th 2020

The Conservative candidates in the Barnhill by-election case today lost their case against Carolyn Downs, Brent Council Returning Officer in a Queens Bench hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The recount ordered as a result of the petition by losing candidates Stefan Voloseniuc and Kanta Mistry revealed only a handful of votes difference in the by-election declaration which had given the Labour candidates Gaynor Lloyd and Mansoor Akram victory. The Conservative allegation that a 100 vote bundle had been placed in the wrong bundle was therefore unfounded.

The Court also found that Carolyn Downs' refusal of a recount in the early hours of January 24th 2020 had been reasonable and vindicated by the Court recount. Mr Justice Holgate said that the petitioners had not only requested a recount but their intention was clearly to unseat the Labour candidates. 

Mr Justice Holgate said that after the Court recount (the result of which had not been publicised) the petitioners had taken no action for 4 months which had caused Downs to seek a special case.

The by-election had been declared correctly and this was not now in dispute between the parties concerned.

On the matter of the missing seal on a bag of votes, Brent Council had been open about the matter and informed the parties immediately and the explanation that the cause was the poor quality of the seals at the time accepted.

The petitioners were ordered to pay costs of £30,000 to Carolyn Downs as Returning Officer  and a total of £38,000 legals costs to Cllr Lloyd and Cllr Akram.

When there was some delay and prevarication over the costs negotiations Mr Justice Holgate said that this should have been decided between parties before the hearing. The difference between the parties was small and a detailed assessment would add disproportionately to the costs. Clearly irritated, he said that this was a very, very. very small issue and urged those involved to get it into perspective - he had a very large planning case to decide.

Ironically, Stefan Voloseniuc had been a member of the Labour Party in Barnhill ward shortly before he switched parties to the Conservatives. Maybe not a good move.

Barnhill by-election result could be over-turned by Courts. Hearing starts tomorrow.

The two day recount hearing for the Barnhill by-election starts tomorrow and as a bombshell curtain raiser the Kilburn Times today LINK  reveals that sacks of votes went astray at Clock Cottage, Kenton, which is one of the Council's storage depot.

The Barnhill Conservatives launched a petition to the High Court alleging that 100 votes were moved from the Conservative pile and transferred to the Labour pile. These were double votes - votes for the two Tories. If the recount transfers 100 votes to the Conservative they will be declared winners.  However the Council confidently told the Kilburn Times that they think the result will be upheld by the courts.

The Count is taking place in Room 73 (largest room) at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. 

The real issue has changed with the discovery of the missing sack which only emerged when the Court asked for the ballot forms.

As readers will know I hold no brief for the Conservative Party but I do believe that elections should be conducted fairly so welcome this hearing to clear up the matter. I was a Green Party candidate at this by-election along with my colleague Pete Murry.

This is the statement made to Wembley Matters by Stefan Voloseniuc who with Kanta Mistry was a Conservative candidate for the ward.

On 23 January this year, we had three by-elections in the London Borough of Brent and I was one of the Conservative candidates for Barnhill Ward, alongside my colleague Kanta Mistry. We worked extremely hard and managed to do well; however, on the evening of the elections during the count, a bundle of our 100 votes had been unduly moved to the Labour Party’s candidates votes, leading them to win by a small margin. Despite our persistent requests on that evening for a recount and a flick through the bundles the Returning Officer (RO) Chief Executive Officer Carolyne Downs rejected our requests entirely. 

After the election I spoke to the Electoral Commission about the RO’s behaviour at the count. I was informed that the RO ought to have allowed a recount and flick through of the bundles on the day. The sacks are supposed to be sealed as per the People’s Act 1983, which states that the RO has a duty to ensure that each sack containing the ballot papers must be sealed and stored securely, to avoid any interference with the ballot papers by any parties. As such, in order to have a recount, we needed to file a Petition at the High Court, asking for a recount. We followed this process and we managed to obtain a hearing to seek an Order for a recount to take place at Court with the Court giving permission for the seals to be removed and the recount to take place in the High Court itself.

To our surprise, a few days before the hearing the RO’s legal representatives informed us that the seals (of the Barnhill Ward alone, and not the other two wards) were found to be broken. We requested evidence in the form of pictures and witness statements. We were informed that further evidence will follow. Upon receiving this evidence in the form of witness statements on behalf of the RO, we discovered that they could not find the seals on the sacks You  will find upon reading the  statement made by the Head of Executive and Member Service, there has been serious breach in following the prescribed lawful procedure. 

Once we came to learn of this significant breach, we requested for the recount (which is listed to take place on 16 and 17 July 2020) to also include a count of all unused ballot papers in order to reconcile the total ballots printed (used and unused), particularly as the sacks were not sealed, open to interference by anyone. 

The RO refused our request for the recount and reconciliation of the unused ballot papers; however, the RO willingly agreed to a recount of the unused ballot papers ONLY IF the recount result went against the Labour Party candidates. I am sure you agree that this clearly points towards partiality in favour of the Labour Party, despite a duty by the RO to remain neutral.

The  witness statement made by Thomas Cattermole, Brent Council Head of Executive and Member Services to the Court sets out the events surrounding the seach for the missing Barnhill papers. 

The storage room at Clock Cottage was visited several times before they were found in a sack labelled "23/5/19 EU elections BP's' in pen. It had no seal and it was dirty on the outside.  It was upright and it was surmised that nothing had fallen out and nothing was found on the floor on checking. Cattermole said that he could only assume the papers were placed in a sack that already had the EU elections label on it. Photographs were taken in accordance with the Judge's Order.

The sack along with others from Barnhill ward is now secured in a locked, limited access area in Brent Civic Centre.

Barnhill By-Election recount fixed for July 16th and 17th

I understand that the High Court has fixed the date for the disputed Barnhill by-election count will take place on July 16th and 17th at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. Numbers of attendees will be limited due to social distancing measures being in place.

The by-election was held on January 23rd following the resignations of Michael Pavey and Sarah Marquis and was won narrowly by the Labour candidates.

The petition submitted by the Conservative Party under the Representation of the People Act sets out the case for a recount.  The gap between the lowest Labour vote and the highest Conservative vote was just 70. The petition claims that at the count, which went on into the early hours of January 24th, 100 Conservatives block votes were wrongly placed in the Labour bundle and that the Conservative candidates should have been duly elected as the candidates with the highest number of votes.

Why Labour voters should support Andrew Linnie of the Green Party in Alperton after suspension of the Labour candidate

The Kilburn Times reports LINK that the Labour Party has suspended Chetan Harpale, its candidate in the Alperton by-election  over alleged anti-Muslim tweets. Wembley Matters  broke the story on the tweets on December 30th  LINK which apart from the anti-Muslim comments also suggested Jeremy Corbyn was pro-Jihadis and praised right wing Tory MP Bob Blackman.

Harpale remains on the ballot paper and suspension is not the same as expulsion. Due process means that there will be an investigation and Harpale will have the chance of defending the comments or perhaps claim that his Twitter account was hacked. 

Labour Party activists are unlikely to be able to stomach campaigning for Harpale given the allegations but under Labour Party rules are not able to openly campaign to support a candidate from a rival party. This does not apply to Labour voters of course, who can make up their own minds over which candidate from other parties standing in Alperton comes closest to reflecting their own beliefs.

A further consideration is that if Harpale is elected despite the allegations, perhaps through automatic support for Labour by habitual Labour voters, he could be expelled by Labour but attempt to keep his seat as an Independent. As an Independent action could be taken against him in the Standards Committee using the Code of Conduct for Councillors.  Ironically the previous Chair of the Standards Committee was James Allie who the Kilburn Times reports has also been suspended by the Labour Party. He resigned before Christmas following allegations that he has 'utilised' a dead woman's legacy for his own uses, including the purchase of a house. LINK

If Harbale is elected, but resigns immediately, there will need to be another by-election in Alperton ward.

WHY LABOUR VOTERS SHOULD VOTE GREEN IN THESE EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES

I would argue that the best way to solve this mess is for Alperton Labour voters to support Andrew Linnie the Green Party candidate.  Andrew has an excellent reputation as an Alperton resident who has campaigned on housing and regeneration issues.  He has addressed the Planning Committee on behalf of residents and issues a regular campaigning Newsletter in the locality.

More broadly the Green Party has national and regional policies which many Labour  activists would support. These include:

• ANTI-AUSTERITY The Green Party campaigned against the imposition of austerity from the outset while the Labour Party pre-Corbyn, was ambivalent to say the least. Locally we were members of the cross-party Brent Fightback. (Caroline Lucas addresses the People's Assembly Anti-Austerity march in 2014 HERE)  The Lib Dems were of course pro-Austerity.
• GREEN NEW DEAL Greens came up with the idea, in collaboration with trade unionists and other groups, a long time ago supporting One Million Climate Jobs and advocating a 'just transition' to a low carbon economy. Green Party statement on Green New Deal 2007 LINK
• HOUSING Greens have a range of housing policies LINK which start with the principle that 'affordable, secure and comfortable accommodation is a basic human right'. We reject the current misuse of the term affordable and through our GLA Assembly members are campaigning for the the London Mayor to have control over London's housing so renters are guaranteed decent homes and are protected from unfair evictions and unaffordable rents.
• DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY OF EDUCATION The Green Party adopted a policy of opposition to academies and free schools and their integration back into the local authority system well before the Labour Party and also opposed SATs because of their detrimental impact on both pupils and teachers. LINK

FOOTNOTE

This is the motion on Islamophobia adopted by Full Council on July 8th 2019:

“Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

Contemporary examples of Islamophobia in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in encounters between religions and non-religions in the public sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

·                Calling for, aiding, instigating or justifying the killing or harming of Muslims in the name of a racist/ fascist ideology, or an extremist view of religion.

·                Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Muslims as such, or of Muslims as a collective group, such as, especially but not exclusively, conspiracies about Muslim entryism in politics, government or other societal institutions; the myth of Muslim identity having a unique propensity for terrorism, and claims of a demographic ‘threat’ posed by Muslims or of a ‘Muslim takeover’.

·                Accusing Muslims as a group of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Muslim person or group of Muslim individuals, or even for acts committed by non-Muslims.

·                Accusing Muslims as a group, or Muslim majority states, of inventing or exaggerating Islamophobia, ethnic cleansing or genocide perpetrated against Muslims.

·                Accusing Muslim citizens of being more loyal to the ‘Ummah’ (transnational Muslim community) or to their countries of origin, or to the alleged priorities of Muslims worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

·                Applying double standards by requiring of Muslims behaviours that are not expected or demanded of any other groups in society, e.g. loyalty tests.

·                Using the symbols and images associated with classic Islamophobia (e.g. the Prophet Muhammed being a paedophile, claims of Muslims spreading Islam by the sword or subjugating minority groups under their rule) to characterise Muslims as being ‘sex groomers’, inherently violent or incapable of living harmoniously in plural societies.

·                Holding Muslims collectively responsible for the actions of any Muslim majority state, whether secular or constitutionally Islamic.

Green Party candidate calls for Labour to withdraw support from their Alperton by-election candidate over anti-Muslim views

The website Order-Order.com has today published more extracts from Tweets allegedly written by the Labour Party candidate in the Alperton by-election, Chetan Harpale,

Andrew Linnie, Green Party candidate for Alperton said:

I am shocked and disgusted by the racist, islamophobic views aired by Labour's candidate in the Alperton by-election. I think it is important, given the hostility of the language used, that Labour leader Cllr Butt not only condemns these views but withdraws support from this inappropriate candidate from the election while there's still time. Mr Harpale has no place representing anyone, let alone representing an area as culturally diverse as Alperton.

Brent Council by-election candidates announced

Following the closure of nominations at 4pm this afternoon Brent Council has published the  statement of persons nominated:

The candidates are:

ALPERTON WARD (ONE VACANCY)
Anton Georgiou (Liberal Democrats)
Chetan Harpale (Labour Party)
Andrew Linnie (Green Party)
Harmit Vyas (Conservative Party)

BARNHILL WARD (TWO VACANCIES)
Mansoor Akram (Labour Party)
Michael Brooke (Liberal Democrats)
Martin Francis (Green Party)
Gaynor Lloyd (Labour Party)
Kanta Mistry (Conservative Party)
Peter Murry (Green Party)
Larry Ngan (Liberal Democrats)
Stefan Voloseniuc (Conservative Party)

WEMBLEY CENTRAL WARD (ONE VACANCY)
Sai Karthik Madabhushi (Conservative Party)
Jyotshna Patel (Liberal Democrats)
William Relton (Green Party)
Sonia Shah (Labour Party)

Polling Day os January 23rd 2020

Current Council:

LABOUR 56
CONSERVATIVES 3
GREEN  0
LIBEREL DEMOCRATS 0

Cllr Michael Pavey resigns - By-election in Barnhill ward in January

Cllrs Butt, Choudhary, Marquis & Pavey

 I had to miss tonight's Council meeting but I understand that a by-election was announced to take place in January 2020 as a result of the resignation of a sitting councillor. The ward is currently held by three Labour councillors - Cllr Shafique Choudhary, Cllr Sarah Marquis and Cllr Michael Pavey. Michael Pavey resigned for personal reasons.

Pavey is a former Deputy Leader of the Council who stood against Cllr Muhammed Butt for the Labour leadership.LINK

The by-election is likely to be held in mid to late-January when two ward electors have asked for an election.

Has Sam Stopp been shot down over Heathrow?

Cllr Sam Stopp announced a week or so ago that he was seeking the Labour nomination for Richmond on a pro-Heathrow, pro-growth, pro-jobs ticket.

More recently he announced that he had been long-listed for the nomination.  Today his Labour councillor colleague Cllr Neil Nerva posted the above tweet on Facebook.  It says:

@Cllr Stopp

I would've stood as a pro-Heathrow candidate for #RichmondPark NEC wants anti-Heathrow candidate, which makes me wonder why we're standing.

I can't see that tweet on Stopp's timeline now LINK  but that is not surprising. Stopp has deleted nearly all of his tweets many of which backed Owen Smith in the Labour leadership election and criticised Jeremy Corbyn.  One tweet stated he was ashamed that Brent Central CLP had backed Corbyn and another accused Labour colleagues of refusing to allow him into a meeting about the Labour leadership.

Stopp's twitter account now shows just 28 tweets akthough there are 1,970 'likes':

All rather strange.  It is not clear whether this marks the end of his Richmond Park bid or whether he is still in the race.

For the record this is what Stopp said previously about the Richmond Park by-election:

Six candidates will fight Kilburn by-election

The full list of candidates for the Kilburn Council by-elelction has been published. Voting takes place on May 5th alomgside the Mayoral and GlA elections. The count will take place on Friday May 6th at Alexandria Palace where the GLA count takes place.

CANDIDATES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

Tilly Boulter Lib Dem
Elcena Jeffers Independent
Peter Murry Green
Janice North UKIP
Barbara Pitruzzella Labour
Calvin Robinson Conservative

Kilburn By-election May 5th 2016 - details

Kensal Green By-election Result

Chris Alley Conservative 255
Jumbo Chan Labour 931
Sarah Dickson Lib Dem 417
Jafar Hassan Green Party 102
Juliette Nibbs UKIP 38

Labour achieved 53% of the vote.
Turnout 20.3%

FULL RESULT

Green candidate Jafar Hassan offers a posiitve choice in Kensal Green By-election

Brent Green Party has selected 28 year old Jafar Hassan, a strategic consultant, as its candidate for the December 17th Kensal Green by-election. Jafar has lived in Brent for 25 years.

Jafar said:

The Green Party came second to Labour in Kensal Green at the last council election so it's vital that everyone in the area goes out to the polls on 17 December to make their vote count. Brent Council needs change and I believe I'm the right person to do that. Whether in Parliament, the GLA or on London councils such as Islington, the Green Party has proved that though few in number we can make a huge difference.

Brent Council is dominated by weak Labour councillors, a divided Conservative opposition, and a single ineffectual Liberal Democrat. The Green Party can win in Kensal Green so I hope that the people here will vote for me  on 17 December.  I will hold the Council to account and put forward positive ideas to fix Brent’s lack of affordable housing, shortage of school places, poor handling of regeneration projects and the cluelessness when it comes to tackling fuel poverty and making homes energy efficient.

The Green Party beat both Liberal Democrats and Tories to come second behind Labour in the  May 2014 local elections.

Brent Tories first to select candidate for Kensal Green by-election

From Brent Council website

Brent Council has announced that the council by-election is to be held in Kensal Green Ward on Thursday 17 December 2015. This follows the sad death of Cllr Dan Filson last week.

Nominations for candidates must be submitted to the Returning Officer at Brent Civic Centre by 4pm on Friday 20 November.

The person elected on 17 December will be in place for the remainder of the standard four year term of office for a councillor, until May 2018, and will serve alongside the other two councillors elected to that ward in May 2014.

Anyone eligible but not currently registered to vote has until midnight on Tuesday 1 December to register if they wish to vote in the by-election.

Anyone already registered but who wants a postal vote has until 5pm on Wednesday 2 December to submit an application form, which they can get by emailing electoral.services@brent.gov.uk.

Alternatively a form can be downloaded at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk.

You can also call our Electoral Services office on 020 8937 1372.

Brent Conservatives have been quick off the mark selecting Christopher Alley to contest the seat, presumably on the basis that he can handle a sandwich with panache!

Alley has 28 followers on Twitter @ChrisAlley23

Labour Party members interested in standing need to be free next weekend for interviews and have until 6pm on Wednesday 11th November to return their nomination papers. The papers are available from grover.robert2@gmail.com

It will be interesting to see Brent Momentum's impact on the selection.

Brent Green Party will issue an invitation to potential candidates shortly.

Are you eligible to stand? Details HERE

Withdrawn Labour Kenton by-election leaflet contained racist slur

From Kilburn Times website

The Kilburn Times LINK is now covering the story about the row between Tories and Labour in the Kenton by-election which I alerted readers to yesterday LINK.

The leaflet purported to contain a copy of a survey filled in by Michael Maurice the Conservative candidate.

It is clear from the leaflet above that as well as the claim that the candidate himself would not be voting Conservative that the leaflet attributed racist views to the candidate including the claim that the Coalition's immigration failure was 'rapidly leading the United Kingdom towards inevitable Armageddon and ultimate destruction.'

An independent handwriting expert employed by Michael Maurice proved it was not the candidate's handwriting and he is reported to be taking up the matter with the police.

Cllr Reg Colwill, Maurice's election agent,  warned that in the event of a close result the Conservatives would call for a re-election.

Kenton Tories force Labour to withdraw 'nasty leaflet' 'full of lies'

I met Cllr Reg Colwill while out campaigning in the Kenton by-election earlier today. He claimed that Labour had been forced to apologise for, and withdraw, a leaflet that they had put out attacking the Conservative Candidate Michael Maurice. The Tories alleged the 'nasty' leaflet was 'full of lies' about their candidate.

According to Colwill, Labour are printing an apology that the Tories will distribute.

Since being recognised as the official opposition by Labour the Kenton Conservatives have been quiescent in contrast to their Brondesbury Park Conservative counterparts.

The spat may change this.

The other candidates in the Kenton By-election, where voting takes place on Thursday, are:

Michaela Lichten GREEN
Vincent Lo LABOUR
Bob Wharton LIBERAL DEMOCRAT