Georgia Gould, already named parliamentary secretary in the Cabinet Office

WESTMINSTER’S two new Labour members of parliament vowed to put housing and homelessness at the top of their agendas after running out winners at a historic general election.

Rachel Blake became the first Labour MP ever to be elected in Cities of London and Westminster constituency after polling 15,302 votes to the Conservative candidate Tim Barnes’s 12,594, with a 39 per cent share.

In the north of the borough, Georgia Gould won the redrawn Queen’s Park and Maida Vale constituency with 20,126 votes – more than 15,000 votes ahead of her closest rivals. The Green Party’s Vivien Lichtenstein came in second place with Samia Hersi the Conservative in third.

The two results were announced around 5am at Lindsey Hall, the home of the Royal Horticultural Society, as Sir Keir Starmer’s landslide general election victory brought the curtain down on 14 years of Tory rule.

In her speech, Ms Blake said: “Elections are a time for people to make a choice. A decision has been made. It’s time to move forward. We have endured 14 years of Conservative-led government.

“They have presided over chaos.”

She told the Extra she was determined to make social housing her first order of business, adding: “Getting Britain building again is something that is so important.”

Asked about different models of social housing, she said: “It’s 5 o’clock in the morning and you’re asking me that.

But I think we need to get developers to build more [social housing] when they are building. Getting more out of Section 106 is something Labour is already talking about.”

Rachel Blake, the first Labour winner in the ‘Two Cities’ constituency

She added: “It’s an amazing feeling, right now I feel pretty weird.”

The “Two Cities” constituency boasts some of the wealthiest residential areas in the capital including Mayfair, Belgravia, Marylebone and the City itself; and has, since its inception, been considered a Conservative fortress.

It had been held for one term by the former Westminster City Council leader Nickie Aiken, who chose not to stand again and is leaving the country to live in the UAE.

Mr Barnes, who stood for the Conservatives against Starmer in Hol­born and St Pancras in 2017, told Extra the results across the country showed how the party Reform UK was not a serous political force, and the relatively small majority held by Ms Blake showed the seat would be up for grabs next time round in “a two-horse race”.

He criticised former home secretary Suella Braverman for using her acceptance speech to suggest her own creden­tials as a new leader of the Conservative Party, on what he described overall as a “terrible night”.

Ms Gould had been selected as the candidate to replace Karen Buck with the veteran MP standing down after 27 years representing the constituency, formerly Westminster North.

After the result was announced, Gould told Extra the “fundamental challenge” for her as MP would also be tackling housing and homelessness.

On leaving Camden Council after seven years as its leader, she said: “I’ve been so proud to lead this amazing diverse group of councillors, who are doing an amazing job for the borough. Too often we were putting sticking plasters over systems that weren’t working and needed national change. So I put myself forward to be an MP and won tonight – but I’m leaving Camden in safe hands.”

The constituency was called just before 6am in a long night for all con­cerned at the Westminster count. Results were significantly delayed with officials suggesting the cause could be connected to a serious road traffic accident in Park Lane, Mayfair – and a concert in Hyde Park.

In 2019, Karen Buck won the constituency, formerly Westminster North, with a substantial majority in the Boris Johnson Conservative landslide of 2019, with a majority of 10,759.

Georgia Gould was handed a ministerial job almost immediately after becoming an MP for the first time – being named as the new parliamentary under secretary for the cabinet office.

Full results

Cities of London and Westminster
Rachel Blake Labour 15,302, 39%
Tim Barnes Conservatives 12, 594, 32.1%
Edward Lucas Liberal Democrats 4,335, 11.1%
Rajiv Sinha Green Party 2,844, 7.3%
Tarun Ghulati Reform UK 2,752, 7%
Hoz Shafiei Workers Party 727, 1.9%
Liz Burford Rejoin EU 352, 0.9%
Huge De Burgh Social Democratic 110, 0.3%
John Generic Independent 110, 0.3%
Tim Hallett Independent 55, 0.1%
Mathew Carr Independent 34, 0.1%
Turnout 53% Majority 2,708

Queen’s Park and Maida Vale
Georgia Gould Labour 20,126, 52.5%
Vivien Lichtenstein Green 5,213, 13.6%
Samia Hersi Conservative 5,088, 13.3%
Helen Baxter Liberal Democrat 3,417, 8.9%
Angela Carter-Begbie Reform UK 2,106, 5.5%
Irakli Menabde Workers of Britain 1,792, 4.7%
Abby Jan Dharamsi Independent 601, 1.6%
Turnout 51% Majority 14,913

Elevations and by-elections

TWO city council by-elections will be held in the coming weeks after Maida Vale’s councillor Tim Roca and West End ward’s councillor Jessica Toale were sworn in as Labour MPs, for Macclesfield and Bournemouth West respectively, yesterday, Thursday.

The Extra understands that they had already pledged to resign from Westminster City Council if elected and will not be collecting their allowances.

The city Conservative group has been asking questions about whether Labour Bayswater councillor James Small-Edwards should also stand down.

He was elected to represent Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, City of Westminster, in the London Assembly in May.

The post comes with a £62,761 salary.

The Conservative Tony Devenish was on the GLA for eight years until May 2024 while also serving as a councillor for Westminster.

Galley wins Abbey Road

THE Conservatives at least had something to cheer about on the night when Hannah Galley won the Abbey Road ward by-election.

She polled 1,852 of the 4,255 votes cast, beating Labour’s Alex Burgess with 1,344. Helen Toeman of the Liberal Democrats got 560 with the Green Party’s Rajiv Sinha coming fourth with 459.