Chairman’s Report to the Association Annual General Meeting 2024
Dear Esteemed Members, As we gather for the Annual General Meeting 2024, I am happy to highlight the fighting spirit our Association and report that the rebuilding process is well underway.
Unity, Activities and Elections Since October 2023, we held many activities – including a vigil for the hostages in Israel, a Christmas tree lighting (courtesy of Cllr Stephen Stark), our annual dinner, various fundraising lunches and an event with Lord Hammond, to name but a few. We also had to fight two by-elections. We held our share in Highgate Camden by-election (thank you Feyeza) and won the Frognal by-election (thank you Cllr Steve Adams) by our usual Strong margin. You, our member, continue to come out to campaign and support with donations and organisational skills. I am grateful for your continued support. We continued to have our policy forums, charity events and other activities. I will endeavour to add more in the coming year. Though we are no longer in power at the national level, our team will invite Shadow Ministers and hopefully host candidates from the upcoming Leadership election.
Mayoral and General Elections 2024 My thanks to all of you who came out and in other ways supported our Mayoral and GLA campaigns. London and Barnet & Camden has two brilliant candidates, Susan Hall and Julie Redmond, respectively. It was a chance to break with the failed Sadiq Khan Labour approach. With our resurgent fighting spirit, there will be no hiding place for Labour in the next Mayoral/GLA elections. It was an honour to be selected as your candidate for Hampstead and Highgate. I am grateful for the huge effort you made to support me over the last 7 months. Though this has been a difficult election for Conservatives, together we managed to stem the tide which was heavy against us. Our national Conservative share of the vote fell by almost 20 percentage points. There was a 12 swing against Conservatives in London. In comparison, we only lost approximately 6 percentage points of the vote share in Hampstead and Highgate. Even Labour lost vote share in Hampstead and Highgate. London is not suffering as much as the rest of the country and it may be argued that things have bottomed out here. We must continue to be positive and fight to build constructively for the future local elections in 2026 and beyond. We have reached out to all communities and have had good engagement. I expected that this will show increased dividends. I want to express my personal thanks to all of you who have given so much this year.
Acknowledgements and Appreciations I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all members who graciously gave their homes to host events and campaign centres. We are grateful to all our speakers and those who attended and helped with organisation. I would like to thank our Patron, President, Officers, Agent, Chairs, Committee Members and our Executive. In closing, I extend my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you, our Members, for your commitment, energy, and belief in our common cause. Together, we have built a stronger, more united Association poised for greater success.
Warm regards,
Don Williams Chairman
29 July 024
