The European elections for the whole of the UK and elections for unitary authorities (outside London) took place yesterday with polls closed at 10pm.

We, in Southall, were able to man most of the polling booths and the Labour party volunteers , with the exception of couple of places were no where to be seen.

After the close of polling, most Conservative Party volunteers came to my campaign office for a chat and to share their experiences. Suddenly, I received a text informing me that James Purnell had resigned from cabinet. My immediate thoughts were that this is reminiscant of rats jumping out of the sinking ship. After refreshments, we all left for our respective residences and I was glued to the TV -changing news channels as frequently as I felt like. It appeared as though a civil war had broken out within the Labour Party and everyone had begun jockeying for positions. The prime motive seems to be that how to cling on to power rather than giving people chance and seek fresh mandate.

This was my first election after leaving the Labour party and must say that I had a very pleasant experience.

The unitary authority results will be out by this afternoon and EU results by Sunday afternoon. I have already been contacted by some whose case work which I had passed on to officers of the London Borough of Ealing for response and I am off to make contact with officers for outcome.