Labour’s Westminster election night takeaway

Local elections aren’t exactly the most glamorous of affairs but there’s usually a sprinkling of celebrity stardust to enliven the occasion. This year it has been in short supply, with Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman and Carrie Johnson’s lockdown-defying friend Ben Mallett supplying infamy, in lieu of charisma. But now Mr S has discovered an unlikely connection between the seismic events in Westminster – where the Tories lost the council for the first time ever – and a popular millennial YouTube star.

Labour’s efforts in Westminster were spearheaded by PR guru and longtime councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, who wrote the account of the borough’s ‘homes for votes’ scandal of the 1980s and 1990s under Shirley Porter. He has sat on the council for 25 years, watching no less than six Tory leaders come and go. This morning’s victory then came as sweet relief, with Dimoldenberg being filmed punching the air in delight at news that Labour had taken the bastion of Hyde Park in Westminster.