Seconds out and counting

Written by Lynne Featherstone and published in Ham & High on Thu 10th Jun 2004

I had to resort to a Marks & Sparks birthday cake for my daughter this week.

This breaks a long tradition of me producing artistic masterpieces on both my daughters' birthdays. Let's not pretend I am a cook. I don't cook. I never have - probably never will. But twice a year to salve my non-cooking conscience I have rolled up my sleeves, cheated only slightly by buying Betty Crocker ready cake mix for the chocolate sponge bit, and let the creative force be with me.

I used to be a designer and on birthday cakes I give full vent to my old creative tendencies. Over the years this has delivered a chocolate rat cake (my oldest used to have pet rats - clearly I am a liberal parent!), a tower in the form of the Jenga game, a football pitch, numerous cartoon characters then in vogue and many more - but this year I have failed. The birthday coming three days before polling day, I couldn't do it. Too many leaflets to deliver and doors to be knocked on.

By the time you read this, the votes will all have been cast - and the electronic counting machines will have done their whizzing. We will know who is Mayor, how many Assembly members from each party have been elected and the hard negotiating will begin.

I've drawn the short straw with this column - having to write a political column before an election - but which will be published just after - is always a tricky one.

But almost regardless of the result, life on the London Assembly is likely to be quite different for the next four years. Last time, we LibDems held the balance of power and both Tories and Labour wanted to be our best friend.

If the same happens again, the decisions will be harder. After the last elections in 2000, Ken was still the devil incarnate for the Labour group on the Assembly, but since he rejoined Labour they have become his number one fan, tabling wildly sycophantic questions to him at every opportunity.

If Simon Hughes is Mayor, Labour certainly won't want to get on with the Mayor! And if Ken is Mayor, it'll be hard for any other party to work with a Labour Party that has suddenly turned itself into a group of super-Ken loyalists. Meanwhile, the behaviour of the Tories over the four years was hardly endearing - with internecine splits and destructive behaviour.

So who knows what will happen? Until I get into City Hall and see how the land lies, I can't tell you.

What I do know is that the Assembly has done good work - not much publicised - both in holding the Mayor to account and raising issues of importance to London. Four years ago in the first campaign - I would knock on a door and have to explain what the Assembly was. This time, at least everyone knows it exists. Last time it was an idea, a piece of legislation. This time, people know about it. They don't always know much about what it does - but they know it is important and that London government isn't only about the Mayor.

So, hopefully my cake sacrifice will not be in vain - and London will have a strong LibDem voice to fight her battles and look after her.