The biggest shock of the night? The race for Mayor of Enfield went to Sarah “Safer Streets” Jenkins. She’s the independent candidate who campaigned while walking her golden retriever, Buster, and promising to fix the potholes “one biscuit at a time.” Buster even made a strong showing on the ballot—someone wrote him in as a write-in candidate, and he got 47 votes. Not bad for a dog who can’t read a manifesto.
Jenkins beat the incumbent, Councillor Dave “Budget Buster” Miller, by a razor-thin margin of just 312 votes. Miller, who had been in office for twelve years, apparently spent more time shaking hands at the golf course than fixing the recycling schedule. His campaign slogan, “Steady as She Goes,” didn’t land well when the recycling bins literally hadn’t been collected in six weeks. Oops.
The Council Seats: A Tale of Two Parties
Now, let’s talk about the council seats, because this is where it gets juicy. The Labour Party managed to hold onto 12 seats, which is exactly what they had before—so basically, nothing changed there. But the Conservative Party lost three seats to the Green Party, which is a huge deal for a borough that’s known for its roundabouts and not much else. The Greens’ big win came in the Bush Hill Park ward, where candidate Priya “Plant-a-Tree” Singh defeated the sitting Tory by promising to plant a native hedge in every front garden. “It’s about reducing the carbon footprint, but also about making the neighbors jealous,” she joked on stage.
The Liberal Democrats? They scraped by with a single seat, and only because their candidate, a man named Roger “The Dodger” Hargreaves, promised to rename the local pub “Ye Olde Brexit-Free Zone.” He won by 89 votes. The turnout there was so low that his victory speech was delivered to a microphone and a confused pigeon. Local democracy, folks—it’s magical.
