In the event it wasn’t so bad. I had watched Jacqui Smith leave her election count in tears and seen Charles Clarke’s look of defeat as his result was read out, and I’d wondered if that’s how all incumbents feel when they’re defeated at the polls.

All I can say is that it wasn’t so for me, partly because of the conduct of Labour supporters. As I had also seen and experienced at innumerable Council meetings, the tribal and primitive nastiness of Newham Labour Party is a wonder to behold. I was the butt of it when first elected in May 2002 when Tony Banks MP and Cllr June Leitch led the hissing and booing; CPA was the butt of it this time when Mayor Sir Robin Wales led the noisy Labour celebrations of our defeat with an inelegant jig. If you can find some kind of perverse pleasure in seeing human nature at its most graceless and infantile, then there was quite a lot of enjoyment – of sorts – available at the Newham count. Unlike the outgoing Labour prime minister, the Labour Party in Newham doesn’t do dignity.

We ran an effective campaign and I don’t think as a small party that we could have done much more. For the first time CPA was criticised in Labour Party election leaflets but I don’t think these scored much with the voters, and certainly we rapidly answered their points with our own flyers. This was good election stuff, kept CPA accountable to our voters and there can be no objection to Labour doing their job in this way.

The decisive problem for us was the fact that the general election took place on the same day as the local elections; voters’ focus was inevitably on national issues and on the three main national parties. As far back as January we’d talked privately about the possibility of a Labour tsunami in Newham – and so it proved. The parliamentary votes were counted first and once I saw the significantly increased majorities – against the national trend outside London – of Newham’s Labour MPs, I realised CPA’s time on the Council was up, for now at least.

In the event Labour wiped out all opposition and once again holds all elected seats at all levels. Their total grip on the borough is amazing and unique.

For me the most revealing event at the count was Mayor Sir Robin Wales’ acceptance speech in which he rounded on CPA and accused us of lying. Of course we’ve become used to this allegation over the years as it is the bog-standard reaction of the Mayor and his colleagues when their activities are exposed and their policies criticised yet they have no answer. Frustration, anger and bluster are their usual response.

I first came across this in 2001 when I led local residents in their campaign against the brutal Canning Town housing regeneration project. At meeting after meeting Sir Robin publicly accused me of lying. I wasn’t of course, but in the Orwellian one-party state of Newham where everyone is expected to view the world through the Labour Party prism, speaking an alternative truth to power is tantamount to treason.

Also I have previously posted about another incident when I was absurdly accused of lying (here).

So Sir Robin’s accusation this time was neither abnormal nor unexpected, although it was made more entertaining by two amiable young hijab-wearing members of Respect who shouted back “You’re the liar; you’re the liar!” However CPA supporters kept their cool despite the Mayor’s torrent of vitriol; turning the other cheek is an important ethic.

But Sir Robin’s spite was revealing. Clearly the exposure of his parking habits deep in the basement of the Council’s Building 1000 (see previous post) was still rankling. He has no explanation for his abuse of the disabled parking space apart the strutting self-important self-promotion that is symptomatic of his administration, so in his embarrassment he lashed out at CPA. An urgent FoI request by his campaign manager Lisa Buckingham (here) revealed that as usual Sir Robin hoped to pass the buck and blame Council officers. But unfortunately for him he’s in charge, he’s the boss, and daily he chose to park his car right over the disabled logo. So he’s stuffed.

Of themselves, of course, his parking proclivities are no great shakes. But as a metaphor for the corrupting self-centredness of the Mayor’s image-conscious spin-addicted administration, they are superb. And his reaction to our publication of the photo – the uncontrolled anger, the bullying solicitor’s letter, the responsibility-ducking FoI request and the false accusations – exactly highlight much that is wrong in the Mayor’s office.

And the future for CPA in Newham? We’ll have a break and then review the options. After eight good years I don’t think I’ll stand for Council again. But there are good people in the party who want to serve the wider community through CPA and Newham urgently needs an Opposition party. I’ll be happy to support them.