Labour has convincingly won the Shooters Hill by-election, with Raja Zeeshan becoming the area’s new councillor.
The election was called after Danny Thorpe, a former leader of Greenwich Council, stood down six weeks ago after 22 years at the town hall. Thorpe led the council for four years until May 2022.
Zeeshan, a legal consultant and human rights campaigner, won 1,043 votes, with Conservative Ezra Aydin a distant second on 237 votes.
Tamasin Rhymes notched up 185 votes for the Greens, while Reform UK’s Alan Cecil had 179 votes. Kirstie Shedden, for the Liberal Democrats, had 158 votes. Turnout was just 22.5 per cent.
In 2022 Thorpe secured over 70 per cent of the vote in the ward, which also includes the Barnfield Estate in Plumstead and the old Royal Military Academy off Woolwich Common.
This time around Zeeshan picked up 57.9 per cent over the vote in what has been a safe Labour area for many years. He will join fellow Labour councillor Ivis Williams in representing the ward.
In his acceptance speech late on Thursday evening, he said he would serve constituents “to the best of my abilities” before shouting “let’s be united to build a better tomorrow!”
“I’m feeling very excited, very enthusiastic, and very passionate,” Zeeshan told The Greenwich Wire afterwards.
He said the campaign had been about “local issues” and that “the Labour message has always been very much welcome all around, which is why Labour is very popular throughout this borough”.
Zeeshan said dealing with flytipping would be one of his priorities, as well as tackling antisocial behaviour and crime.
Shooters Hill ward includes Eglinton Road in Woolwich, the street where 15-year-old Daejaun Campbell was killed with a zombie knife in September.
Greenwich Labour now has 50 councillors, while the town hall has four Conservatives. One seat on the council is vacant.
The by-election was the third of the year in Greenwich after polls in Mottingham, Coldharbour & New Eltham and Eltham Town & Avery Hill, both won by the Conservatives.
A fourth by-election will be held in West Thamesmead on December 19 after the resignation of Lib Dem councillor Chris Lloyd, who has moved to Wales.
Lloyd had been a Labour councillor since 2014 and was even briefly a parliamentary candidate, but he quit the party last year after accusing a colleague of homophobia. He joined the Lib Dems earlier this year.
Candidates in West Thamesmead are likely to be announced next Friday.
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