The Green Party has its first ever councillor in Greenwich after Tamasin Rhymes won the Shooters Hill by-election.
The result, which was announced just after midnight, is the biggest upset in Greenwich politics for a generation and a rare humiliation for Labour, whose candidate Jummy Dawodu boycotted local hustings, claiming they would not be impartial, and sent residents a now-notorious letter criticising local campaigns against council land sales in the ward.
The election was called after the resignation of Labour’s Ivis Williams after she was threatened with suspension for speaking out over those land sales.
Rhymes took 869 votes (34.6 per cent), 113 more than Dawodu, who notched up 756 votes (30.1 per cent).
The Conservatives also had a poor night as Reform UK’s Paul Banks came third, with 402 votes (16 per cent), beating Tim Waters, the Tory candidate, into fourth place in 288 votes (11.5 per cent). Kirstie Shedden came fifth for the Liberal Democrats on 128 votes (5.1 per cent). All five parties had campaigners out in the ward on the final day.
The election was dominated by the planned sale of Green Garth – a bungalow that the Shrewsbury House community centre had been in talks with the council about taking on – and the Greenwich Equestrian Centre. Turnout was 32.6 per cent, compared with 22.5 per cent in a by-election held in the same ward last October, which Labour’s Raja Zeeshan won easily.
Canvassers also reported deep anger at the way Williams was treated by Labour. She had asked for the sales of Green Garth and the equestrian centre to be delayed so residents could put bids in – a process called a community asset transfer.
But Labour’s response was to launch an investigation into her and threaten her with a six-week suspension. Williams quit the council, and then quit Labour after being told the party would still investigate her, and discovering that Zeeshan had given evidence against her. Williams went on to endorse Rhymes in the by-election.
Rhymes is a school governor and the chair of the Greener Greenwich Community Network, a non-political group hoping to build resilience in the face of climate change. She also manages the Greener & Cleaner community hub in Bromley town centre.
She told The Greenwich Wire she was “excited” about becoming a councillor. Asked if she started the day confident about her chances, she said: “I wouldn’t say confident. I’d had some lovely conversations with people, so I was hopeful. But it was very nerve-wracking.”
Rhymes said she was looking forward to meeting the council’s “new sustainability team, when they come in”, and working on planning issues. While she will not be able to sit on planning committees as a lone councillor, councillors have greater rights to speak at meetings where planning applications are decided.
The win is all the more remarkable because the Greens had never previously targeted the area, preferring to concentrate their efforts in Greenwich itself, and the party’s team appeared to be taken aback somewhat when it emerged they had won. The party’s previous best result in was in the 2022 council election, when they came just 68 votes from success in East Greenwich.
As the sole Green on the council, Rhymes is unlikely to get any favours from the 49 Labour councillors. She will have to work with others on the council – such as independent Majella Anning or the four Conservatives – if she wants to call in a council decision for further scrutiny.
“Hopefully it won’t be long till there are some more Greens and we can form our own little team,” she said.
If the Labour Party’s pursuit of Williams for defending her residents backfired badly, its campaign in Shooters Hill compounded the issue. Residents reported Labour canvassers – including a sitting councillor – arguing with them on their doorsteps. And Labour leaflets tried to dismiss the threat from the Greens, telling residents in leaflets that they faced a choice between Labour or Reform, claiming the parties were neck and neck.
The ward stretches from the leafy streets of Shooters Hill itself to the Barnfield Estate in Plumstead, where Williams had previously spoken out against plans to build an eight-storey “ghetto” council block on the site of an old toilet, saying residents felt “ignored”. The plans were later dropped.
One volunteer who canvassed for the Greens told The Greenwich Wire before the count that there was particular anger about Williams’ treatment on the Barnfield Estate, where she was seen as a local champion. “Whole families told me they were going to vote Green,” they said.
The Greens’ success was a second boost for the party in SE London, coming 36 hours after a Labour councillor in Lewisham, New Cross Gate representative Liam Shrivastava, defected to them.
Greenwich has been run by Labour since 1971, and its elections are not known for surprises. But Rhymes’ victory is arguably the biggest upset for 35 years. After councillors refused permission for The Valley to be rebuilt in 1989, Charlton Athletic fans – who were then having to watch matches at Selhurst Park – stood in the following year’s elections as the Valley Party. They won no seats but split the vote in some wards and forced out the chair of the planning committee which had thwarted the club’s plans. The campaign forced a rethink which resulted in the club returning home in 1992.
Many voters in Shooters Hill will now be hoping for a similar change of heart over Green Garth and the equestrian centre.
The Shrewsbury House Community Association, whose campaign to stop Green Garth from being sold was mocked by Dawodu in her letter to voters, said on Friday that it “looked forward to working with Tamasin and our other ward councillor, Raja Zeeshan”.
Its chair of trustees, Sally Macdougal, said the group with be meeting Anthony Okereke, the council leader, next Friday to discuss the future of Green Garth. Dawodu had claimed in her letter that the bungalow, which the group wanted to turn into a base for local Scouts and community garden, was “full of asbestos” – despite a survey in 2019 giving it a clean bill of health.
“We will be presenting ideas which, if approved by the council, would bring Green Garth and its grounds back into community use, promoting our own and the council’s missions, quickly and at little to no cost to the council,” she said.
Full result: Tamasin Rhymes (Green Party) 869 votes; Jummy Dawodu (Labour Party) 756 votes; Paul Banks (Reform UK) 402; Tim Waters (Conservative) 288; Kirstie Shedden (Liberal Democrats) 128; Nazia Tingay (Independent) 57; Arnold Tarling (Independent) 9. Turnout: 32.6 per cent.
Updated at 10.45am to include Shrewsbury House statement and an image of the notorious letter to voters in Shooters Hill.
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