Local Elections 2021

We are finally holding local elections, following the cancellation of the May 2020 polls. Although necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, it did mean that the illegitimate Labour-led alliance was given another year in charge of Basildon Borough Council, to our immense frustration.

Following months of heel-dragging on holding virtual meetings online, Labour and their so-called ‘Independent’ backers have been shameless in their headlong rush to push through disastrous plans across the Borough, all the while dodging scrutiny by both councillors and the voting public.

Central Government, meanwhile, has quite rightly been preoccupied with mopping up Brexit (including securing the trade deal with the EU that we were all told ‘could not be done’) and combatting the pandemic, spending over £280 billion on things like the furlough scheme, support for the self-employed, loans, grants, tax cuts and tax deferrals, as well as extra funding for schools, local authorities, the NHS, charities, culture and sport. The Conservatives are ensuring that we prioritise jobs, businesses and public services.

Locally, Conservative-controlled Essex County Council have led the way, working to keep the most vulnerable safe, our children educated, supporting families, and helping businesses across the County. All the while balancing the finances and without increasing taxes, including delivering extra funding for foodbanks and support for vulnerable families and IT devices for children across Essex, as well as implementing one of the best contact tracing systems in the east of England.

With elections now going ahead on 6th May – and after a lull in campaigning due to the sad death of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh – the time has come for my long-awaited ‘Runners & Riders’ blog, which has been complicated this year by the fact that our deferred borough elections will be taking place simultaneously alongside the quadrennial Essex County Council elections, not to mention the election of the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (using a completely different electoral system, just to make things extra complicated).

Re-elect Roger Hirst for Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

I shall deal very quickly with the PFCC elections, which I do not wish to concern myself overly in this blog. I gather that there are four candidates for the job, whom you can vote for ‘preferentially’ in accordance with the rather silly electoral system used for these votes. Personally, my only preference is for the Conservative candidate and incumbent Commissioner, Roger Hirst, to be re-elected. As such, I personally do not exercise my ‘second preference’, as I flatly do not have one, but you, dear voter, can decide for yourselves on that one.

We also should have had the deferred parish council elections this year but, shamefully, most of these are not being contested… as usual! Only the West Ward of Billericay Town Council is actually being contested (for the first time in almost a decade), with thirteen candidates for the nine seats, including (for the first time) a large contingent of Liberal Democrats. This is, in truth, the only reason the ward is being contested at all. Meanwhile, Great Burstead & South Green Village Council (with only six candidates for eight seats), Little Burstead Parish Council (three candidates for five seats), Noak Bridge Parish Council (worst of all with only three candidates for seven seats), Ramsden Bellhouse Parish Council (who have got five for five) and Ramsden Crays Parish Council (four for five) will all be ‘returned unopposed’ (a local government euphemism for being unelected) and their numerous casual vacancies filled by co-option at some later stage (possibly – many parish councils just limp along without filling them). I find this utterly disgraceful and, frankly, to refer to these as ‘democratically elected bodies’ has become farcical. Most of them have not been properly elected in donkey’s years. The fact that nobody in the communities these bodies serve can be bothered to seek election to them probably ought to tell us something about their importance and worth.  Anyway, remember this when their precept crops up on your Council Tax bill! I think if I still lived in Noak Bridge, I’d be tipping my tea into the River Crouch. “No taxation without representation!”

Anyway, moving on to more important matters…

Basildon Council has 42 councillors across 16 wards and holds elections three out of every four years, electing a third of the seats each time. There are fourteen seats up for grabs this year, plus a fifteenth seat in play due to a by-election in Langdon Hills. (NB: there are no elections in Wickford Castledon or Wickford Park because they are smaller two-member wards). The fate of each one will help determine who controls the Council. With the exception of 2018, when the Conservatives were briefly back in control with a slim majority, the Council has been in No Overall Control since 2014 and for the past two years has been run by a bizarre conglomeration of Labour and assorted ‘Independents’ (mostly former UKIP), who when banded together just narrowly outnumber the Conservatives, despite the latter remaining the largest single group on the Council with 18 councillors (and we remain the only group with representation in all three towns that make up the Borough – holding all the seats in Billericay, more than half the seats in Wickford, as well as seats in Laindon, Langdon Hills and Pitsea).

As you can see, the picture is rather different at County Hall, which has 75 seats across 70 divisions throughout Essex and is elected as a whole every four years (in the fourth year of Basildon’s four-year election cycle, when there are usually no borough elections). The Conservatives currently hold well over half the seats. Nine of those county councillors are returned by the residents of Basildon Borough, across our five divisions. Six of them are Conservative, two Labour and one Independent.

The first thing to note is that, once again, Basildon Conservatives are the ONLY political party in Basildon fielding a full slate of candidates in EVERY SEAT. Even with Labour and the Liberals fielding candidates in every ward/division for the first time in years, neither of them have put anybody up for the Langdon Hills by-election. The new kids on the block are the Basildon Community Residents Party, fielding candidates for the first time in the borough elections. The party emerged out of legitimate grievance over the Labour-led administration’s disastrous plans for Basildon Town Centre but does appear to have quickly become overrun by hard-left former Labour types, rendered politically homeless by the neo-Blairite rule of Gavin Callaghan locally and the downfall of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader nationally. Two of their candidates are former Labour councillors. Even more oddly, despite roundly criticising sitting councillors for not living in the wards they represent, most of their candidates do not live in the wards they are seeking election in. Embarrassingly, despite originally stating that they had nine candidates, only seven have made it onto the Statement of Persons Nominated. They are not fielding candidates in Billericay or Wickford, which was to be expected, but they have also failed to sign anyone up in Pitsea South-East or for either of the two Langdon Hills seats.

This year we also have a smattering of Reform UK candidates (the successors to the Brexit Party), with five candidates seeking election in mostly Basildon wards and four candidates for the county elections (in three of the five divisions). There are also a smattering of Independents of various kinds, two U’Kippers, one borough candidate for the far-right (and deeply nasty) ‘For Britain Movement’, and one county candidate for the far-left Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. The Wickford Independents are, understandably, only fielding candidates in Wickford.

As you can see from the above graphic, the current composition of Basildon Council has become rather convoluted. Out of the 42 councillors, there are currently 18 Conservatives, 15 Labour, 3 Independents (NB: Councillor Smith and his fellow stooges), 2 Wickford Independents, 2 ‘Absolute Independents’ (ex-Tories, not part of the ruling coalition) and one nominally ‘non-aligned’ member, Cllr Derrick Fellowes (Nethermayne), who is part of the coalition (currently serving as Deputy Mayor) but has not joined the Smithite faction. Confusing, I know. There is also currently a ‘casual vacancy’, occasioned by the recent death of Imelda Clancy (Ind, Langdon Hills). So, currently, the Administration enjoy a majority of just one. The composition at Essex is a bit more straightforward, as the Conservatives hold 53 seats and their main opposition is the Liberal Democrats, who hold 8 and Labour are on 6, followed by a smattering of Independents and third parties.

The magic number for an overall majority at Basildon is 22 seats – this is the number of seats a party needs to command an overall majority. So, as Tories, we would need to hold our current seats and gain at least three more to take back control. This year we are defending six of the fourteen, Labour are also defending six themselves, two are currently held by Independents, plus the Langdon Hills by-election.

If you are not sure which ward/division you come under, click here and enter your postcode.

Here are the runners and riders locally (I shall list the borough wards first and then the county division they fall within): Incumbents are marked with an ‘*’

 

BILLERICAY EAST WARD

• HILTON, Tracey (Labour)
• MANTERFIELD, Karen (Liberal Democrat)
• McCAFFERY, Susan (UKIP)
• SULLIVAN, Stuart (Conservative)*

Stuart Sullivan is seeking re-election in Billericay East and is the long-serving Conservative Spokesman for Finance, currently sitting on the Policy and Resources Committee. Stuart has represented Billericay East since 2002. Tracey Hilton is the secretary of the Billericay Branch of the local Labour CLP and contested Billericay West in 2019. She has now pitched up in the East ward (she is also fighting the county seat). Karen Materfield is standing here again for the Liberals, having come third last time. We also have a blast from the past in the form of former town councillor Susan McCaffery, standing under the resurrected banner of UKIP. Stuart was last re-elected to Basildon Council in 2016 with 60% of the vote and a majority of 1,100 votes.

 

BILLERICAY WEST WARD

• GODDARD, David (Labour)
• SAINSBURY, Edward (Liberal Democrat)
• TURNER, Phil (Conservative)*

Phil Turner is seeking re-election in Billericay West, which he has represented since 2002. Phil is a former Leader of Basildon Council and currently sits on the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the regulatory Planning Committee. David Goddard is standing as Labour’s paper candidate this year (he contested Nethermayne in 2019). The one-man local Lib Dem revival, Edward Sainsbury, is standing again for the Liberals, having previously fought Billericay West in 2019 and come second. A little bird tells me this is in fact the only seat the Liberals are seriously contesting (and, indeed, their sudden interest in the West Ward of Billericay Town Council, where Mr Sainsbury is also a candidate, has triggered the first actual contested election there in almost a decade). Mr Sainsbury is also seeking election to the county seat. Phil is defending a majority of 1,327 (a 66% share of the vote in 2016).

 

 

BURSTEAD WARD

• CLARK, Laura (Liberal Democat)
• MOORE, Richard (Conservative)*
•  REID, Malcolm (Labour)

Dr Richard Moore is seeking re-election in Burstead, having represented the seat since 2004. He is currently Conservative Spokesman for Strategic Planning & Infrastructure and serves on the committee of the same name. Having not fielded a candidate in 2019, the Liberals are standing Laura Clark, who is also seeking election to Billericay Town Council, as well as the county seat. Meanwhile, Labour have put up their long-serving paper candidate Malcolm Reid, a veteran of many token Labour campaigns. Richard is defending a majority of 1,097 (62% of the vote in 2016).

 

THE BILLERICAY & BURSTEAD DIVISION

• CLARK, Laura (Liberal Democrat)
• HEDLEY, Anthony (Conservative)*
• HILTON, Tracey (Labour)
• McCAFFERY, Susan (UKIP)
• MOORE, Richard (Conservative)*
• REID, Malcolm (Labour)
• SAINSBURY, Edward (Liberal Democrat)

Richard Moore (see above) is also seeking re-election to his county seat, along with his division colleague, Anthony Hedley. Tony has represented Billericay & Burstead for 20 years and, like Richard, is also a borough councillor, representing Billericay West. At County Hall, Tony is currently Chairman of the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee and also sits on the Essex Pension Strategy Board, the Investment Steering Committee, the Basildon Local Highways Panel, the Transport Routes Appeal Panel, and the Youth Strategy Group (Basildon). He was also Chairman of the Essex Fire Authority for many years. Richard was first elected to County Hall in 2017 and currently chairs the Local Highways Panel and sits on the Audit, Governance and Standards Committee, the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Mid & South Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership), and the Place Services and Economic Growth Policy and Scrutiny Committee.

Fighting the division for the Liberals are Laura Clark and Edward Sainsbury (who are both also contesting borough wards, as well as Billericay Town Council), while Labour are fielding Tracey Hilton and Malcolm Reid (both also standing for borough seats). Susan McCaffery, who has thrown her hat in the ring for Billericay East at borough level, is also seeking one of the two Billericay & Burstead county seats. Tony and Richard were both returned in 2017 with 36% and 33% of the vote respectively (69% in total). Richard was more than 4,500 votes ahead of the third-place Labour candidate.

 

FRYERNS

• BROWN, Adele (Labour)*
• HOWARD, Jim (Basildon Community Resident)
• HOWARD, Vivien (Liberal Democrat)
• SANDHU, Sandeep (Conservative)
• WOODROW, Max (Reform UK)

Labour Deputy Leader, Adele Brown, is defending her traditionally staunch Labour seat in Basildon. She is currently Deputy Leader of the Labour Group (but not the Council, as Labour are in coalition with the Smithite Independents) and currently serves as Chairman of the Planning Committee (widely seen as a demotion from her previous position as chair of the now defunct Infrastructure and Inclusive Growth Committee). She is very much a ‘Callaghan loyalist’ and one of the Labour Leader’s biggest supporters within the Labour Group but was seen as ‘out of her depth’ on IIG. She nevertheless remains a member of the senior Policy and Resources Committee and, as Planning has always been her ‘baby’, it may be for this reason that she has been moved back onto the regulatory committee. Her sense of loyalty has already stood the Administration in good stead, as she recently used her casting vote as chairman to pass the first of the controversial Basildon Town Centre tower block developments. I have always found Adele personally agreeable but, all is fair in love and war, and I will nonetheless be hoping our candidate, Sandeep Sandhu, unseats her. Sandeep is a family man and an engineer by trade, who would be a strong voice for Fryerns on the Council. Jim Howard, a former retailer, is standing for the Basildon Community Residents Party; a first-time candidate for a first-time party (made up mostly of disgruntled Labour voters, who oppose Labour locally but cannot bring themselves to vote Conservative). Vivien Howard (no relation) is standing again for the Liberals, having come a distant third here in 2019. Max Woodrow is a first-time candidate for Reform UK. Councillor Brown is defending a majority of 212 (44%) from 2016.

 

 LAINDON PARK

• BATEMAN, Christopher (For Britain)
• DALE, Mark (Basildon Community Resident)
• LOW, Tony (Independent)
• McCARTHY, Stephen (Liberal Democrat)
• SOUTHGATE, Fred (UKIP)
• STANBROOK, Angela (Labour)
• WINGFIELD, Kevin (Conservative)

Laindon Park will be one of the key battlegrounds of this election, as evidenced by the decidedly ‘busy’ ballot paper, with an electorate that has been galvanised by the outrageous treatment of the Laindon Community Centre. The incumbent Independent councillor, Hazel Green, was originally elected as UKIP in 2016 with a majority of 234 (38%) over the Conservative runner-up, but she is quitting the seat. Following UKIP being decimated at the 2018 local elections, plus a resignation and a three-way split within the remaining rump of the group, Councillor Green was for a time the only remaining UKIP councillor. She obtained a degree of notoriety after the 2019 elections when, having initially courted the Conservatives, she ultimately decided to jump into bed with Labour. Ironically, it was the candidacy of another ‘Independent’, Tony Low, whose 2019 run in Laindon Park successfully took enough votes from the Conservatives to enable Labour’s John Scarola to win the seat – without which, Gavin Callaghan could not have regained control of the Council in the first place. Councillor Green has since joined the Smithite ‘Independent Group’ and announced that she will seek re-election in Councillor Smith’s Nethermayne stronghold, effectively abandoning her Laindon constituents.

Fortunately, we have in the person of Kevin Wingfield an excellent, hard-working candidate to replace her. Kevin is a local Laindon resident and a data analyst by trade. He is probably one of the smartest guys I know and is a tenacious and hard-working campaigner. He would be an incredibly strong voice for Laindon.

His Labour challenger is Angela Stanbrook, who has lived in Laindon for five years and is vice-chair of the Radford Park Residents’ Association founded by Labour mayor, David Burton-Sampson. Meanwhile, first-time candidate Fred Southgate is seeking to reclaim the UKIP mantle but he is just one among a plethora of third party candidates. I have never heard of Christopher Bateman before. There was a perennial BNP candidate named Irene Bateman but I have no idea if they are related. Mr Bateman is, however, standing for the equally unpleasant ‘For Britain’. Stephen McCarthy is standing for the Liberals and Mr Low is standing yet again as an ‘Independent’ (whilst trying, in his leaflets, to pass himself off as some kind of authentic Tory – having unsuccessfully applied to be a official Conservative candidate a couple of years ago). Somewhat oddly, given their regular slating of sitting councillors for not living in the wards they represent, the Basildon Community Residents Party are fielding Pitsea resident Mark Dale in Laindon, who I gather does have past links to Laindon and was once upon a time a tenant rep’. In any case, whatever their particular hue, Laindoners should be once bitten, twice shy with these assorted ‘Independents’ and third parties. Labour won the seat by only a little over 50 votes in 2019 because Mr Low split the vote. A vote for any of these parties is a vote for Labour, which will simply allow the Callaghan candidate to get in. If Laindoners want a Labour councillor, they might as well just vote Labour. If they do not, then they need to vote for Kevin Wingfield! It really is that simple.

 

LEE CHAPEL NORTH

• CHANDLER, Michael (Liberal Democrat)
• FRIPP, Lewis (Reform UK)
• HARRISON, Alex (Labour)
• QUESTED, Kay (Basildon Community Resident)
• SHUKLA, Deepak (Conservative)

Labour’s Andrew Gordon won the seat in 2016 with a majority of 189 (45% of the vote) but has announced that he is retiring from the Council. Alex Harrison is the Labour candidate to replace him, having come second in Pitsea South-East in 2019. Mr Harrison is a long-time Labour candidate and appears to be one of Gavin Callaghan’s ‘bright young things’, having also stood previously in Langdon Hills in 2016 and 2018 (coming third both times). Our candidate is Deepak Shukla, a resident of Lee Chapel North, who will work hard for the ward and listen to residents, who have been ignored by their Labour councillors for too long.

Michael Chandler is standing again for the Liberals, having come third in 2019. Kay Quested is another first-time candidate standing for the Basildon Community Residents Party, and Lewis Fripp – who has been campaigning as ‘Cabby Lew’ – is standing under the banner of Reform UK, the rebranded Brexit Party. He strikes me as well-meaning but slightly naïve, having apparently adopted a policy platform that either addresses the somewhat myopic concerns of the local taxi trade (such as making St Nicholas Lane a four-lane carriagway) or makes wildly uncosted and undeliverable promises like building enough social housing to house everybody on the Council’s housing register (with no indication as to what that would cost, how it would be funded, or where they would be built). Alas, I fear he will only serve to split the vote and let in yet another mute Labour councillor for Lee Chapel North.

All three current Labour councillors for the ward have been notable by their deathly silence over Laindon Community Centre. Lee Chapel North deserves better. Deepak Shukla would be a hard working local councillor the residents can trust.

 

THE LAINDON PARK & FRYERNS DIVISION

• BROWN, Adele (Labour)
• CHANDLER, Michael (Liberal Democrat)
• DAVIES, Allan (Labour)*
• FRIPP, Lewis (Reform UK)
• HENRY, Jeff (Conservative)*
• HOWARD, Vivien (Liberal Democrat)
• LOW, Tony (Independent)
• SAGGERS, Norma (Reform UK)
• SCHRADER, Andrew (Conservative)
• SOUTHGATE, Fred (UKIP)

The two-member county division of Laindon Park & Fryerns is currently split between Conservative and Labour. Conservative Jeff Henry topped the poll in 2017, with 2,196 votes (19%), while Labour’s Allan Davies took the second seat with 2,154 votes (18%), just beating the other Conservative candidate by a mere 77 votes. Jeff has been a rising star at County Hall, having been appointed a Deputy Cabinet Member for both Performance, Business, Planning and Partnerships and for Health and Adult Social Care. He also sits on the Basildon Local Highways Panel and the Essex Countywide Traveller Unit Joint Committee and is also a borough councillor for Laindon Park. For my sins, I am submitting myself as the second Conservative candidate for the Laindon Park & Fryerns division. It is a huge honour and privilege to have been selected to be Jeff’s running mate this year. Although I represent a Billericay seat on Basildon Council, I have in fact lived half my life in and around Basildon, including around a decade in Laindon itself. Both Laindon and Fryerns are very special communities, that I would be honoured to represent at County Hall. Jeff encouraged me to throw my hat in the ring and he and I are good mates and I know that we would work well together (hopefully alongside our local borough councillors!). We would be a strong team to give the division the powerful voice it deserves. The other Labour candidate in the division will be Adele Brown (see Fryerns above), who is also defending her borough seat this year. She stood for county in 2017 but came fourth. Other candidates include Martin Chandler and Vivien Howard for the Liberals, Lewis Fripp and Norma Saggers for Reform UK, Fred Southgate for UKIP and Tony Low as an Independent (all of whom are also fighting borough seats).

 

 LANGDON HILLS (x2)

• ALLEN, Christopher (Conservative)
• BROWN, Walt (Independent)
• FELLOWES, Derrick (no description)
• MACHIPISA ZWENGUNDE, Clarence (Labour)
• NICKLIN, Timothy (Liberal Democrat)
• ROBBINS, Val (Independent)
• SANSOM, Charlie (Conservative)
• X, None Of The Above (no description)

I thought it would be candidates galore here, as both seats are up for grabs this year in the small two-member enclave of Langdon Hills, where the incumbent Conservative councillor, Stephen Hillier, has retired after 20 years service. There is also a by-election taking place following the death of Smithite Independent councillor Imelda Clancy (Kerry Smith’s mother) in January but most of the parties do not seem to have been geared up to field a second candidate. Only the Conservatives and Councillor Smith himself are fielding two. Steve Hillier was only narrowly re-elected in 2016, with a majority of just 2 votes (39% of the vote). By contrast, the late Councillor Clancy won the seat with a majority of 628 (53% of the vote) in 2018. So, there is a mountain to climb here for our candidates but Charlie Sansom is an enthusiastic young guy and has been working the ward hard since he was selected to replace Steve. He is now joined by Chris Allen, a local resident and Conservative campaigner, who has been selected to fight the by-election.

Councillor Smith is fielding Walt Brown and Val Robbins but also throwing his hat in the ring is Derrick Fellowes, currently a nominal ‘non-aligned’ councillor for Nethermayne and Deputy Mayor of Basildon. He has announced that he will seek election in Langdon Hills rather than fight the seat he has represented for the past four years. Both wards are regarded as Smithite ‘pocket wards’ and the two men apparently do not get on. Councillor Fellowes, who was originally elected for UKIP, is the only former ‘Kipper still on the Council who has not become a Smithite. Given the Smithites label themselves ‘Independents’, Councillor Fellowes is lacking any description on the ballot paper – which, actually, does sum him up rather nicely! He was a close ally of former UKIP councillor, Linda Allport-Hodge, who succeeded Councillor Smith as Leader of the UKIP Group following his fall from grace in late 2014 but, since she left the Council, the always rather vapid Councillor Fellowes has become a really quite nauseating lickspittle for Labour leader Gavin Callaghan. He often posts on Councillor Callaghan’s Facebook page, with fawning praise of such saccharine obsequiousness that, frankly, even Callaghan himself must find it cringeworthy to read.

Labour and the Liberals are fielding a candidate apiece. Dr Tim Nicklin is a first-time candidate but Clarence Zwengunde, curiously, previously stood as an independent in Lee Chapel North in 2016 (coming last) before joining Labour. He stood for them in Laindon Park in 2018 and came second. For anyone not content with any of these option, Langdon Hills is almost unique in enjoying an abstention option on the ballot paper, courtesy of the retired champion lightweight boxer formerly known as Terry Marsh, who has legally changed his name by Deed Poll to None Of The Above X. Though Mr X did get himself into a bit of bother at the 2017 county elections, he is back on the ballot paper for your protest-voting pleasure.

 

NETHERMAYNE

• BAKER, Michael (Labour)
• COTTRELL, Mark (Conservative)
• GREEN, Hazel (Independent)
• NICE, Stephen (Liberal Democrat)
• SAGGERS, Norma (Reform UK)
• WHITWELL, Lauren (Basildon Community Residents)

The outgoing councillor, Derrick Fellowes (see Langdon Hills), won this seat for UKIP in 2016 with a majority of 166 (27%). Ah, those were the heady days for UKIP. They were the second-largest group on the Council, the referendum had been won, but Brexit had not yet been delivered. But by the local elections in 2018, they were done. They went from being the main Opposition on the Council to just five seats and their national leadership imploded after the resignation of Nigel Farage. Now they have all morphed into various kinds of ‘Ukipendents’. Councillor Fellowes has sat recently as a nominally ‘non-aligned’ councillor, as he could not join the Smithites due to the personal animus between him and Kerry Smith. No such trouble for the last remaining ‘Kipper, Laindon Park councillor Hazel Green, who formally joined the Independent Group in 2019. Now it really is ‘all change’, with Councillor Fellowes doing the ‘chicken run’ to Langdon Hills instead of seeking re-election in Nethermayne and, conversely, Councillor Green doing likewise and eschewing a fight for re-election in Laindon Park in favour of being parachuted into Nethermayne as the latest in a long line of human sock-puppets prepared to do Councillor Smith’s bidding. He already succeeded in having Pauline Kettle installed in Nethermayne in 2019 and hopes to repeat the feat. Some of you may recall that Councillor Kettle achieved a degree of dubious notoriety for her repeated abstentions at the Planning Committee, which enabled the Labour chairman to use her casting vote to pass a controversial development in Basildon Town Centre.

Our candidate in Nethermayne will be Mark Cottrell, who has been a parish councillor and is a hard-working guy. He would serve Nethermayne well, given the chance, and residents should think twice before entrusting their vote to yet another faceless cipher for Kerry Smith.

Labour are fielding Michael Baker, a first-time candidate, but veteran candidate Steve Nice is flying the flag once more for the Liberals. Sadly, despite being a former Lib Dem stronghold, Mr Nice came in last in 2019, with just 3% of the vote. Lauren Whitwell, like most of the Basildon Community Resident candidates, is fighting her first election. One surprise addition to the ballot paper is Norma Saggers, a long-time supporter of UKIP and later the Brexit Party. She had previously been slated to run in Lee Chapel North before announcing she would not be standing. So it is a surprise to see her cropping up in Nethermayne and in the Laindon Park & Fryerns county division.

 

THE WESTLEY HEIGHTS DIVISION

• ADEKUNLE ADENIRAN, Kayode (Labour)
• MURRAY, David (Trade Unionist and Socialist)
• NICKLIN, Timothy (Liberal Democrat)
• SANSOM, Charlie (Conservative)
• SMITH, Kerry (Independent)*
• X, None Of The Above (no description)

The man himself, Kerry Smith, Leader of the self-styled ‘Independent Group’ and Deputy Leader of the Labour-led Basildon Council is seeking re-election to his Essex County Council seat of Westley Heights, covering his Nethermayne ward, as well as Langdon Hills and a sliver of Vange. He has represented the single-member division since 2012 and was re-elected in 2017 with a stonking majority of 2,012 (61% of the vote) over the Conservative candidate (some hapless drongo whose name escapes me). But for all his accumulated grand titles at Basildon, Councillor Smith is a virtual nobody at County Hall, being a mere member of the Non-aligned Group and maybe this year, now that Councillor Smith has shown his true colours at Basildon, some of the shine may have come off that ‘hail-fellow-well-met’ façade that has beguiled the voters of Westley Heights for the past nine years. Our plucky candidate seeking to send him packing is Charlie Sansom (see also Langdon Hills).  Charlie (pictured) is a single dad and is very tenacious and hard-working. He could be a fresh start for Westley Heights and I hope he will do well.

Kayode Adeniran, currently a Labour borough councillor for Lee Chapel North, is seeking to win the Westley Heights Division for Labour, while Dr Tim Nicklin (see Langdon Hills) is standing for the Liberals. David Murray, who has been strongly associated with the Basildon Community Residents Party (which definitely isn’t a hard-left front group) is standing here for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. Once again, as in Langdon Hills, if you do not like any of these options, you have an abstention option in the form of Mr None Of The Above X.

 

PITSEA NORTH-WEST

• BURKE TERSON, Stuart (Conservative)
• CALLAGHAN, Gavin (Labour)*
• HOGG, Jacob (Basildon Community Residents Party)
• HOWARD, Martin (Liberal Democrat)

The Labour Leader of the Council, Gavin Callaghan, is defending his Pitsea North-West seat, which he has represented since 2012, having been re-elected in 2016 with a majority of 235 (44% of the vote). Councillor Callaghan has been in charge of Basildon Council since 2019 and I suspect that my feelings about him are so well-known that it is hardly necessary for me to dilate upon them here. Suffice it to say, he is the source of much of the toxicity in Basildon politics and, if he could be unseated, it would be a great step towards restoring civility and reason to the state of political discourse in our borough. Seeking to do just that will be local man Stuart Terson, who lives in the ward and has been involved in the community there, most notably the Pitsea Carnival. Meeting Stuart, the contrast with his Labour opponent could hardly be more stark. He is calm, courteous, reasonable and eager to be helpful. Pitsea North-West could not hope for a better representative. Martin Howard, perennial Pitsea Liberal, is standing here again. Also throwing his hat in the ring to unseat the Labour Leader is disgruntled Labour voter Jason Hogg, standing for the Basildon Community Residents Party. He is a classic staunch left-winger that would never vote Tory but simply cannot bring himself to vote for a local Labour Party led by a self-serving egotist like Gavin Callaghan. Good luck to him. I hope he comes second behind Stuart Terson! Stuart appears on the ballot paper under his full legal name, Stuart Burke Terson. He habitually only goes by Terson but did not realise there was a ‘commonly known as’ option on the application form. Hopefully, he is not the only person in Pitsea North-West looking to drop a Burke.

 

PITSEA SOUTH-EAST

• ANSELL, Andrew (Labour)*
• BREEDON, Simon (Independent)
• CANHAM, Gary (Conservative)
• LANCASTER, Peter (Liberal Democat)
• TOOLEY, Daniel (Reform UK)

Labour’s Andy Ansell is seeking re-election to the seat he won in a by-election in 2018, following the resignation of a UKIP councillor. Councillor Ansell is defending a majority of just 8 votes, having only narrowly beaten the Conservative candidate. This was a somewhat aberrant result, as in the local elections that had been held just a month earlier, there had been two seats up for grabs in Pitsea South-East, both of which we won. When Craig Rimmer sought re-election the following year, he retained the seat for the Conservatives with a whopping majority of 290, having secured 52% of the vote. We have high hopes that our candidate, Gary Canham, will make Pitsea South-East an all-blue ward. Gary previously represented the neighbouring seat of Pitsea North-West for four years. He was a fastidious councillor and would be a great addition to the Conservative team in Pitsea South-East.

Peter Lancaster is standing as a first-time candidate for the Liberals and Daniel Tooley is standing under the banner of Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit Party. Oddly, despite announcing that he would be standing in Vange, Simon Breedon has popped up in Pitsea South-East as an Independent. You may remember him from such disastrous election campaigns as his 2018 run in Nethermayne for UKIP, when he came last with just 3% of the vote and made it into the newspapers by slandering another candidate in his leaflets.

 

  ST MARTIN’S

• ADEMUYIWA, Davida (Conservative)
• BURTON-SAMPSON, David (Labour)*
• JENKINS, Philip (Liberal Democrat)
• RACKLEY, Patricia (Basildon Community Resident)

The Labour Mayor of Basildon, David Burton-Sampson, is defending his traditionally safe Labour seat in Basildon Town Centre, having won it in 2016 with a majority of 238 (47%). Mayor Burton-Sampson currently also sits on the Town Centre Revival Committee and is Vice-Chairman of the Local Government Reorganisation and Transition Committee. He is notable for having thrown his full backing behind potentially disastrous plans to fill Basildon Town Centre with high-rise tower blocks. This is being resolutely opposed by our candidate, local resident Davida Ademuyiwa, who was an early campaigner against Labour’s Disasterplan.

Former Lib Dem councillor Phil Jenkins, who only held his Nethermayne seat for less than year (back in 2010-11), is standing again in St Martin’s, having come third here in 2019. Laindon resident, Pat Rackley, is standing for the Basildon Community Residents Party and was previously a Labour councillor for St Martin’s from 2007 to 2015. She latterly sat as ‘Independent Labour’ after being driven out of the Labour Party amid accusations she was being bullied. 

 

VANGE

• ADESHILE, Yetunde (Conservative)
• McGURRAN, Aidan (Labour)*
• RACKLEY, Phil (Basildon Community Resident)
• SMITH, Peter (Liberal Democrat)

Labour incumbent (and Billericay resident) Aidan McGurran is defending this seat. Having previously represented Pitsea South-East from 2012 to 2016, he won the 2019 Vange by-election by just 26 votes (51%) over Conservative runner-up, Yetunde Adeshile. Councillor McGurran is currently Chairman of the Economic Development and Recovery Committee and sits on the Policy and Resources Committee. He is a key ally of Gavin Callaghan, acting as his ‘attack dog’ and ‘enforcer’ (as any unfortunately member of the public who has conversed with him over Facebook will attest). Yetunde is coming after him again. She is a tireless local community activist and would be a tremendous asset to Basildon Council and a strong voice for Vange.

Former Labour councillor Phil Rackley is standing on behalf of the Basildon Community Residents Party. Mr Rackley was originally a long-serving Labour councillor (who sat on the Council on and off for 20 years between 1984 and 2016, first in Laindon and later for St Martin’s) but fell out with his erstwhile colleagues and sat for a time as ‘Independent Labour’ and then ultimately as a Green. I remember Phil well and he is actually an alright bloke but is a fanatical Corbyn-supporting Marxist. His seething dislike of Gavin Callaghan is probably one of the few things we agree on. Peter Smith is standing as a first-time Liberal candidate.

 

THE PITSEA DIVISION

• HOWARD, Martin (Liberal Democrat)
• JENKINS, Philip (Liberal Democrat)
• MACKENZIE, Luke (Conservative)
• McGURRAN, Aidan (Labour)
• REID, Patricia (Labour)*
• RIMMER, Craig (Conservative)
• TOOLEY, Daniel (Reform UK)

The two-member county division of Pitsea is, like its Laindon Park & Fryerns counterpart, currently split between Conservative and Labour. Conservative Stephen Hillier topped the poll in 2017, with 2,654 votes (20%), while Labour’s Pat Reid took the second seat with 2,605 votes (19%). Councillor Reid is seeking re-election for Labour but Steve Hillier is retiring. Seeking to replace him and take the other seat as well is the dynamic Pitsea duo of Luke Mackenzie and Craig Rimmer, both currently sitting Conservative borough councillors for Pitsea South-East and a proven dream team. The other Labour candidate in the division will be Billericay resident and Callaghan hard man Aidan McGurran (see Vange).

Other candidates include Martin Howard (also standing in Pitsea North-West) and Phil Jenkins (St Martin’s) for the Liberals and Daniel Tooley (Pitsea South-East) as the lone Reform UK candidate.

 

CROUCH

• ALLEN, Stuart (Conservative)*
• BARLOW, Sean (Independent)
• BLAKE, Simon (Liberal Democrat)
• BURTON-SAMPSON, Mark (Labour)
• HUNTLEY, Neil (Reform UK)

Stuart Allen is seeking re-election in Crouch, having represented the seat since 2002. He currently serves on the Licensing Committee and is the long-serving secretary of the Conservative Group. Wickford resident Sean Barlow, oddly, is contesting Crouch as an Independent. I say ‘oddly’, as apart from the fact that he does not live there, I am suprised he is not standing for Labour, as he is such a massive cheerleader for them, acting as an unpaid mouthpiece for the Administration on social media. The actual Labour candidate is Mark Burton-Sampson, husband of Labour Mayor of Basildon, David Burton-Sampson. Simon Blake is a first-time Liberal candidate and, likewise, Neil Huntley is a standing in his first election for Reform UK, the successor outfit to the Brexit Party. Stuart is defending a majority of 479 (54% of the vote in 2016).

 

WICKFORD NORTH

• BALL, Alan (Wickford Independent)
• MORRIS, Carole (Conservative)*
• HOAD, Nicola (Liberal Democrats)
• PALMER, Gillian (Labour)

Veteran Wickford North councillor Carole Morris is seeking re-election for the fifth time, having represented the seat for over 20 years. Carole was last re-elected in 2016 with a majority of 74 (41%), in what was a relatively narrow victory that year, and currently sits on the Planning Committee. It is worth noting that we lost this seat in 2019 (in one of the most shocking results of the night) to the Wickford Independents. One wonders how the residents of Wickford feel about that now, given that the Wickford ‘Independents’ ultimately ended up propping up a Labour-led Administration – bearing in mind that Labour only scored a 13% share of the vote in Wickford North that year. Indeed, only 585 people across the whole of Wickford cast their votes for the Labour Party, compared to 2,790 for the Conservatives. Yet, despite that, and the fact we remained the largest single group on the Council, the ‘Windies’ felt it was legitimate to put Labour in charge. Since then, they have connived to build on Wick Green (in contravention of their expressed election promises), decommission two much-needed local play areas in Wickford North, continued the failure to enforce against illegal development at Hovefields, and even sought to desecrate a war memorial! The people of Wickford North should not be fooled a second time.

Standing for the Windies is former UKIP and later Wickford Independent councillor Alan Ball, a veteran of the 2017-18 Labour-led coalition (Windies are nothing if not consistent in siding with Labour), who lost his seat in 2018 and failed in his bid for re-election to the neighbouring ward of Wickford Castledon in 2019. Nicola Hoad is standing as a first-time candidate for the Liberals but the Labour candidate, Gillian Palmer, stood in the 2019 local elections in Billericay East, coming last.

 

THE WICKFORD CROUCH DIVISION

• BALL, Tony (Conservative)*
• BARLOW, Sean (Independent)
• BLAKE, Simon (Liberal Democrat)
• BROCKMAN, Eunice (Wickford Independent)
• BUCKLEY, Malcolm (Conservative)*
• BURTON-SAMPSON, Mark (Labour)
• HOAD, Nicola (Liberal Democrat)
• HUNTLEY, Neil (Reform UK)
• PALMER, Gillian (Labour)

The Wickford Crouch Disivison, which encompasses the entirety of the town of Wickford as well as the long, oddly-shaped Crouch Ward, that takes in the settlements of Ramsden Bellhouse, Crays Hill, Noak Bridge, Steepleview, and a sliver of Laindon north of the A127, all the way down to the hamlet of Dunton, is currently represented by Consertive stalwards Tony Ball and Malcolm Buckley. Tony has represented the division since 2017 and is currently Cabinet Member for Economic Development and also sits on the Local Children’s Partnership Board for South Essex. He is a former Leader of Basildon Council and represented Wickford North from 1998 to 2014. Malcolm, meanwhile, has been a county councillor since 2013 and sits on the Corporate Policy and Scrutiny Committee. He is still a Basildon borough councillor, having sat on the Council on and off since 1988, making him the longest-serving councillor in Basildon. Tony and Malcolm topped the ballot in 2017 with a combined 9,039 votes (56% of the vote).

Previous runner up, Eunice Brockman, is standing as the only candidate for the Wickford Independents. She is also a borough councillor for Wickford North. Her ‘Wickford’ Independent party name will probably let her down in the Crouch part of the division, along with her affiliation to Labour, who typically perform poorly in both Wickford and Crouch.

Also contesting the division are Simon Blake and Nicola Hoad for the Liberals, Mark Burton-Sampson and Gillian Palmer for Labour, Neil Huntley as the lone Reform UK candidate and Sean Barlow is also standing as an Independent – although, somewhat bizarrely, the Windies are touting him on social media as their candidate (but that’s not what it says on the ballot paper!). It does at least make it clear that Sean Barlow is, in effect, a Labour candidate, who would join the Windies and the alliance with Labour if elected. All the county candidates are also contesting borough seats.

 

TRIVIA

As previously mentioned, the Conservative Party are, once again, the ONLY party fielding candidates in EVERY ward, all over the Borough.

We have a few couples standing this year: David and Mark Burton-Sampson (Lab, St Martin’s and Crouch / Wickford Crouch respectively) are, I think, possibly the first same-sex couple; I believe David Goddard and Angela Stanbrook (Lab, Billericay West and Laindon Park) are a couple; Martin and Vivien Howard (Lib Dem, Pitsea North-West / Pitsea and Fryerns / Laindon Park & Fryerns); Phil and Pat Rackley (BCRP, Vange and St Martin’s); and Malcolm and Pat Reid (Lab, Burstead and Pitsea). Carole Morris (Con, Wickford North) is also a ‘political spouse’, as her husband is Cllr Don Morris (Con, Wickford Castledon). Richard Moore (Con, Burstead / Billericay & Burstead) is a ‘sort of’ spouse, as his wife Moira is a Billericay town councillor.

We have four former councillors seeking to rejoin Basildon Council: Alan Ball (WI, Wickford North), Phil Jenkins (LD, St Martin’s), Pat Rackley (BCRP, St Martin’s) and Phil Rackley (BCRP, Vange). Interestingly, only Mrs Rackley is standing in the seat she previously represented.

We have around twenty candidates who, to the best of my knowledge, are fighting their first election campaigns (which I think may be a record).

We have two retiring councillors this year – Andrew Gordon (Lab, Lee Chapel North) and Stephen Hillier (Con, Langdon Hills / Pitsea). Andrew spent eight years on the Council, first as a councillor in Nethermayne (2011-15) and then, after a break, Lee Chapel North (2016-21). He has been a tireless campaigner for mental health issues and I wish him well for the future. Steve has been a Basildon borough councillor for almost 20 years, having represented Langdon Hills since 2002. He has also been an Essex county councillor for the Pitsea Division since 2017 and served on the Council for many years alongside his wife, Sandra, who represented Langdon Hills herself (2000-14) and was herself a county councillor for Pitsea (2009-12). Steve and Sandra recently retired to Dorset where – in a spirit of ‘You can’t keep a good dog down’ – Steve has already got himself co-opted onto the local parish council. I was active in Langdon Hills Branch myself for many years and I shall miss political gossip over tea and cake at the Hilliers’. Steve was always a ‘good committee man’. I have fond memories of our years together on Planning, when discussion on particularly tricky items would always commence with everyone looking expectantly at Steve, who could generally be relied upon to kick off a debate. He would then give me a lift home and we would sit outside my flat gossiping and plotting, as politicians are wont to do. He was always witty, well-read, and erudite. I shall miss our conversations. Even more so, however, I shall miss Steve and Sandra’s legendary entertaining; the Bastile Day and Beaujolais Nouveau soirées, the Burns Nights with haggis, neeps and tatties, and the strawberry afternoon tea luncheons. Nobody could lay on a spread quite like Steve and Sandra Hillier. I wish them both a long and happy retirement.

HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021)

His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh has passed away, having “died peacefully” at Windsor at the very grand old age of 99. Indeed, he was just two months shy of his 100th birthday. It has been announced that his military funeral (as opposed to a full State Funeral) will be held (in a necessarily Covid compliant way) on Saturday, April 17th, at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. It will be conducted by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Dean of Windsor, after which the Duke will be laid to rest in the Royal Vault. His coffin will be draped in his personal standard, with his admiral’s cap and sword atop. It is much less than his prodigious service to Queen and country merits but very much in line with his own dislike of undue ‘fuss’.

I am, as is probably well known, an absolutely fanatical monarchist. It was unsurprising, therefore, that within hours of the announcement from Buckingham Palace that Prince Philip had died, I received a message over Facebook from a friend saying “Looking forward to your no doubt informative post on the sad death of Prince Phillip.” I get similar reactions from Facebook friends whenever a prominent figure dies; mostly politicians, actors or sometimes directors, famous aristocrats or distinguished military figures. It seems I have developed a bit of a reputation amongst my Facebook friends as an amateur obituarist, due to my habit of penning potted biographies on my timeline when such people die. But where to even begin with a man like Prince Philip?! How do sum up such an incredible – and long – life or try to sum up a man who was, by any measure, quite extraordinary? But I’ll give it a go.

As most people know, the Duke of Edinburgh was born on the island of Corfu on June 10th, 1921, as HRH Prince Philip [Philippos] of Greece and Denmark. He was a scion of the ancient Danish Royal House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, which had reigned over Greece since 1863, when Prince William of Denmark (a younger son of King Christian IX) was elected King George I of the Hellenes, shortly after Greece’s independence from the Ottoman Empire (there had been a brief dalliance with the Wittelsbach dynasty of Bavaria but that did not pan out). Prince Philip was a grandson of King George and was born in the reign of his uncle, King Constantine I. His father, Prince Andrew [Andrea], was King Constantine’s younger brother. Prince Philip was the fifth child and only son of Prince and Princess Andrew.

Prince Philip (second from left in sailor outfit) with his family in 1928

Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Andrew, had been born Princess Alice of Battenberg, part of a morganatic branch of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse-Darmstadt. By 1921, most of the Battenbergs had relocated to the United Kingdom. Her father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, was a British admiral, who had served as First Sea Lord during World War I and was married to a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. In 1917, the Battenbergs abandoned their German titles and adopted the Anglicised surname ‘Mountbatten’, with Prince Louis created the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven by King George V.

Unfortunately, at the time of Prince Philip’s birth, Greece was embroiled in the disastrous Greco-Turkish War. Following the Greek defeat in 1922, King Constantine was forced to abdicate and Prince Andrew, who had served as a general in the war, was arrested. Several senior Greek commanders were subsequently executed and Prince Andrew was banished from Greece for life and forced to flee aboard a British warship. Such was the hurry in which the family was evacuated that the baby Prince Philip was supposedly carried aboard in a makeshift cot fashioned from an old fruit box!

These were the dramatic circumstances in which Prince Philip began what would later be called his ‘nomadic’ lifestyle as an ‘impoverished royal’, exiled and stateless. The family originally settled in Paris but the family soon dispersed. Princess Andrew, who had always suffered from frail mental health, suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalised in Switzerland. Prince Philip’s four elder sisters all married into German princely families and settled in Germany, so Prince Andrew sent his son to England to live with his Mountbatten relatives. Prince Andrew himself thereafter lived out a rakish existence on the French Riviera. Prince Philip did not see his father again until the funeral of his sister, Cecile, in Darmstadt in 1937 (she and her family had died in a tragic plane crash). It was the first time Prince Andrew and Prince Philip had seen each other in six years. It would also be one of the last. At the outbreak of World War II, Prince Andrew was essentially trapped in Vichy France and died in Monte Carlo in 1944, just before the war ended.

Prince Philip spent much of his youth in the 1920s being passed around various relations – most notably his maternal grandmother, the formidable Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (the aforementioned granddaughter of Queen Victoria), who lived at Kensington Palace. He attended Cheam and was later sent to live with his sister, Theodora, who was married to the Margrave of Baden.  It was in Baden that he attended Schloss Salem, a school founded by the visionary Jewish educationalist Kurt Hahn. He eventually fled Nazi persecution and moved to Scotland, where he founded Gordonstoun – and Prince Philip followed him.

A rare picture of Prince Philip at Gordonstoun

The influence of both Mr Hahn and his time at Gordonstoun upon the life of Prince Philip are so well-documented, I need hardly dilate upon them here, but suffice it to say that Gordonstoun was the making of him (in contrast to his own son, who hated the place). In 1939, Prince Philip went to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and joined the Royal Navy, graduating from Dartmouth as the best cadet in his class. It was at Dartmouth, during a visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with their daughters, that Prince Philip first met the young Princess Elizabeth. The King and Queen were being escorted by the Prince’s uncle, the infamous Lord Louis Mountbatten (later Earl Mountbatten of Burma), perhaps one of the most significant royal matchmakers of all time. Lord Louis asked his nephew to escort the young princesses (his third cousins) during the visit. The families were connected through the marriage of Queen Victoria’s son, King Edward VII, to Alexandra of Denmark, a daughter of the aforementioned King Christian IX. Princess Elizabeth was reputedly smitten with Prince Philip from that moment. He was 18 and she was 13 and the two began writing to each other.

This courtship was short-lived, as the Prince saw active service in World War II. He served with distinction, first in the Indian Ocean and then in Ceylon and the Mediterranean. He became a commissioned officer in 1941, again scoring highly in exams. He saw action at the Battle of Crete and was mentioned in despatches at the Battle of Cape Matapan. In 1942, he was second in command aboard HMS Wallace (at just 21, one of the youngest lieutenants in the Royal Navy) and was credited with saving the ship in 1943, during the invasion of Sicily, with his quick thinking in distracting enemy bombers during a night-time raid with a decoy raft lit up with flares. He also served in the British Pacific Fleet and was present for the Japanese surrender at Tokyo Bay in September 1945.

Throughout the war, Prince Philip and Princess Elizabeth had exchanged letters. The young Princess famously kept his portrait on her mantelpiece. When her governess asked her “Do you think that’s wise, Lilibet? People will talk.” She took it down only to replace it later with a new picture of a heavily bearded Prince Philip, saying to her governess, “There you are, Crawfie. I challenge anybody to recognise him now.” He finished the war with a chestful of medals, including the 1939-45 Star, the Africa Star, the Atlantic Star, the Burma Star (with Pacific Clasp), the Italy Star and the 1939-45 War Medal (with Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf). He also received the Greek War Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. He would, of course, add to these over the years to the point where they barely fit on his uniforms! But we can assume these are the ones of which he was, quite rightly, particularly proud.

In the summer of 1946, the Prince formally asked the King for the Princess’ hand in marriage. The King and Queen were both reluctant, given the Prince’s itinerant background and the Queen’s strong preference that her daughter should marry a suitable British (preferably Scottish) aristocrat. The King begrudgingly consented with the proviso that they wait until the Princess’ 21st birthday. If he hoped that would put her off, it was far too late. Princess Elizabeth was deeply in love and nothing would deter her from marrying her Prince. By March of 1947, Prince Philip had formally renounced his Greek and Danish titles and adopted his maternal family’s surname as Lieut. Philip Mountbatten, RN (Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg considered too much of a mouthful) and applied to be naturalised as a British subject (an act that was, in fact, unnecessary, as he was automatically legally a British subject as a descendant of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, owing to an Act of Parliament in 1707).  He had even begun to make preparations to convert from his Greek Orthodox faith to the Church of England. The King and Queen realised there was nothing more to be done and the engagement of the Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Mountbatten was announced on July 10th, 1947.

Lieutenant Mountbatten was created a Knight of the Order of the Garter and, on the eve of his wedding, the King ennobled his soon-to-be son-in-law with the tiles Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich and granted him the style ‘Royal Highness’. The couple were married at Westminster Abbey. His surviving German relatives were pointedly not invited but his mother, Princess Andrew, attended, notable for being dressed in the full habit of the order of nuns she had founded in Athens during the war. [Princess Andrew hid Jews from the Nazis during the war and, consequently, on her death in 1969 was named Yad Vashem – ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ – by the State of Israel and is buried in Gethsemane in Jerusalem.]

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh were happily married for an incredible 73 years. We think of them today as an elderly couple but it is worth remembering that they were young once and very much in love. One particularly saucy anecdote I remember reading was shortly after their honeymoon they were visiting the the Duke’s grandmother. Sipping afternoon tea in the garden, Lady Milford Haven complimented the Princess on her complexion, saying “Elizabeth, what lovely skin you have”. The Duke replied, with a twinkle, “Yes, and she’s like that all over.” Their early life, while the King still lived, was particularly happy. The Duke took a desk job at the Admiralty for a time. Their first child, Prince Charles, was born in 1948 and the following year the Duke was stationed on the Mediterranean island of Malta, where the Edinburghs lived the relatively normal and carefree existence of a military couple. In 1950, the Princess gave birth to a daughter, Princess Anne, and the Duke was promoted to lieutenant-commander and given command of his own ship, HMS Magpie. He later became a full commander but, by 1952, with the King’s health failing, it became clear his active naval career was over and the family returned to the UK to support the King in his royal duties.

The Princess and the Duke were both appointed to the King’s Privy Council and began the undertake a series of foreign tours that the King’s ill health would not allow. It was during one such Commonwealth tour, whilst in Kenya, that the Duke got the news that the King had died in his sleep at Sandringham on the morning of February 6th, 1952, at the age of just 56. He had been battling lung cancer. The new Queen was just 25 years old. It must have been a bitter blow to a young couple, who thought they had so much more time. It fell to the Duke to break the news to his wife.

Upon their return to the UK, the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, and other senior politicians were famously lined up on the tarmac, waiting to ‘claim’ them. This was, of course, a pivotal moment of profound change for the Duke. His life was changed irrevocably. As his daughter, now HRH The Princess Royal, put it in her ITV interview with Chris Ship last night, “From the early stages, I don’t think the structure, in terms of the support to the monarchy, was designed to deal with a ‘consort'”. The initial struggles here are, of course, well-documented (many of them finding their way into the scripts for Netflix series The Crown). There was the infamous tug-o’-war over the Royal Family’s dynastic name – with Sir Winston and the Queen’s doughty grandmother, old Queen Mary, pulling furiously against the Duke and his ambitious uncle, Lord Mountbatten. The Mountbattens lost and their adopted surname was eschewed in favour of retaining the equally confected Windsor, leading the Duke to famously remark “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba! I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.” It was not until 1960 that an Order in Council was issued allowing the use of Mountbatten-Windsor, just days before the birth of the Queen and the Duke’s second son, who was named Andrew after his paternal grandfather. Prince Edward, their final child, came in 1964.

It must have been an incredible transition, particularly back in the 1950s, before the ‘battle of the sexes’, in what was still a very male-dominated society, to go from being a naval commander to walking two steps behind your wife at functions; to attending the State Opening of Parliament and being seated on a chair set slightly lower than Her’s. Yet, as President Obama has remarked, the Duke “showed the world what it meant to be a supportive husband to a powerful woman”. Over more than six decades, the Duke carved out a role for himself in royal life, becoming an inspiration to countless millions across the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth, and the world.

The Queen once described Her husband as Her “strength and stay” and said that “I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know” and that is pretty much bang on the money. The Duke of Edinburgh was the longest-serving royal consort in our history. Over the years, he has involved himself in many causes and supported, and even created, many charities. In addition to supporting his wife in Her role at ceremonial occasions, official functions, visits, state dinners, overseas tours, living up in every way to his oath at Her coronation to be Her “liege man of life and limb”, the Duke has been a president or patron of more than 800 charitable organisations and good causes; too many to list here but running the gamut of sport, education, industry and the environment. He was a great patron of the arts and sciences and a committed conservationist, long before it was fashionable. Perhaps his greatest achievement, however, was the foundation of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme, which he co-founded with his old mentor Kurt Hahn and the mountaineer Sir Henry (later Lord) Hunt. It started as a relatively small youth awards programme in 1956 but has since expanded to over 144 countries, well beyond the UK and even the Commonwealth. Other prominent patronages included his 64 years as President of the National Playing Fields Association, his more than 50 years as a patron of the British Heart Foundation, and his long-standing support for the World Wildlife Fund. He also served as chancellor of the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford and Wales and enjoyed a long association not just with the Royal Navy through his personal service – and he eventually rose to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet and was appointed Lord High Admiral on his 90th birthday – but also with the Army and the Royal Air Force. He was a Colonel-in-Chief and Air Commodore-in-Chief of numerous military units, both British and Commonwealth, including being the longest-serving Captain General of the Royal Marines in their history and Royal Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. He held five-star rank in all three branches of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

His four children have all paid tribute to him following his death. I think it is pretty well-known – and not too controversial to say – that his relationship with his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, had been at times complicated (no doubt a consequence of his troubled relationship with his own father) but the Prince of Wales has today paid a touching tribute to his ‘dear Papa’ (and, perhaps a little redundantly given his own ample collection of titles, has succeeded to his father’s peerage, as the nominal 2nd Duke of Edinburgh). The Duke was clearly close to his eight grandchildren (famously walking with Princes William and Harry behind their mother’s coffin following her death in 1997). He also had ten great-grandchildren (with an eleventh currently on the way). Apart from his family and his country, to both of which he was devoted, the Duke’s other great love was sport. A keen polo player until he was begrudgingly cajoled into retiring in 1971, he later took up carriage driving with a fierce passion (later writing the rule book for the sport). He enjoyed rugby and was also an enthusiastic yachtsman and a pilot, accruing over 5,000 flying hours (having earned his RAF wings in 1953). He did oil painting and was an avid collector for art of various kinds.

Of course, the Duke will also be remembered for his incredible longevity. In addition to being the longest-serving royal consort he is the oldest-ever male member of the Royal Family and, although he has suffered periodic bouts of ill health and occasional hospitalisations in recent years, he remained in remarkably robust health well into his 90s and only formally retired from royal duties in 2017, at the age of 96. He had, by then, completed well over 22,000 solo engagements over the 70 years he had been the Queen’s consort. In 2019, the 97-year-old was involved in a car accident in which he flipped his Range Rover twice and emerged with barely a scratch. I think many of us had reached the conclusion that Prince Philip was immortal but, sadly not. He will also be remembered for his great wit and sense of humour – often misrepresented in the press as tactless ‘gaffes’. He was also called ‘irascible’, even ‘rude’. He was certainly fairly plain-spoken and no sufferer of fools. Possibly one of my favourite Prince Philip ‘clips’ is the one of a clearly irritated Duke snapping at a fussing photographer to “Just take the f***ing picture!” He could be ‘politically incorrect’ but he was very rarely mean or seeking to offend; he was usually attempting – successfully – to put people at their ease with an off-the-cuff joke. Many of the more tasteless remarks attributed to him, he flatly denied having ever said. I think one of the funniest I read recently was during a visit to Australia, upon arrival he was apparently questioned by a customs official, who explained he had to ask the same standard questions that he asked everybody. On asking the Duke “Do you have a criminal record?”, the Duke is said to have replied, “I had no idea that was a still a requirement.”

Above all, the Duke should be remembered for his part in one of the great love stories of our age. His life is a tale of devotion to duty to his adopted country, driven in no small part by his deep and abiding love for his wife, Her Majesty the Queen, and it is to Her that we should turn our thoughts now – though Her daughter-in-law, the Countess of Wessex, remarked earlier today to well-wishers that “The Queen has been amazing”. Would we expect anything less from our incredible Sovereign?

Prince Philip was – much like his Victorian predecessor as consort, Prince Albert – a remarkable visionary, light years ahead of his time. He was an innovator – and great patron and supporter of other innovators. He was a philanthropist. He was a bona fide war hero, a good sailor and a patriot. But, above all, he was a loving husband and a doting father, grandfather and great-grandfather. In many ways, the Grandfather of the Nation. He was a very great man and we shall not see his like again.

Rest in Peace. God save the Queen!

The Duke's titles in full, were:

His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Member of the Order of Merit, Grand Master and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Knight of the Order of Australia, Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, Extra Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Military Merit, Lord of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Counsellor of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty and Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom.

[The Duke also held a number of foreign honours, including Knight of the Order of the Elephant (Danish) and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (Greek), Grand Cross of the Order of St Olav (Norwegian), Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (Swedish), Grand-croix of the Légion d’honneur (French), Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japanese), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos III (Spanish), along with many, many others.]