" Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy." - Proverbs 31:8-9

"Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above" - John 19:11

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn" - Proverbs 29:2

Part of CPA's campaign team for Newham 2006. Left to right: David, Sydney, Reg, Stuart, Benny, Lisa, Cllr Simeon Ademolake, Cllr Denise Stafford, Beatrice, Timothy, Sally, Cllr Alan Craig, Tony, and campaign manager Peter Vickers. Peter's experience was invaluable during the campaign. Unfortunately, he collapsed during the count, and was taken to hospital. (He's fine now.) I guess this is the political equivalent of bravely stretching to hammer the ball into the back of the net in the last seconds of the Cup Final, and breaking your leg heroically in the process!

Cllr Alan Craig thanks CPA supporters for their hard work during the campaign. To his left are Cllr Simeon Ademolake and Cllr Denise Stafford (just collecting her official brown envelope at the back there). Behind him to his right, you can just make out the Returning Officer (dark suit). I don't know who the other chap is.

The election was yet another indication that the "first past the post" system does not necessarily return an administration that reflects the views of the population. To demonstrate this, it is only necessary to show how the votes were cast, and how the seats were allocated. In the following chart, Labour is shown in red, Respect in dark green, Tory in blue, and the Christian Peoples Alliance in royal purple. The other shades represent minor parties such as the Greens and the Liberal Democrats.

And here we can see the dividing up of council seats: