PB councillors lift the Bar

2:47pm Friday 2nd May 2008

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The Conservatives were out in force this morning, their blue blazers and rosettes far from matching their mood.

Labour, on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen. Which is a shame, as following the results their faces would no doubt have complemented their campaign banners perfectly.

No, this was not the mayoral election (sorry Boris fans). Or the GLA election (sorry Brian fans). Or even a county council election (sorry, erm... everyone else).

This was Potters Bar - but to those running, you would never have guessed it was anything less than a race for Number 10.

By 11.30am, it had been officially confirmed that the three Tory ward candidates for Furzefield, Oakmere and Parkfield had managed an impressive hat-trick of wins, storming past their opponents with barely a sideways glance.

Between them they scored a whopping 4,383 votes, to Labour's wimpy 1,199.

But none of the councillors seemed to view their seats as guaranteed or rightfully theirs. All three had taken nothing for granted, campaigning rigorously and maintaining a humble and hopeful demeanour until the final count was announced. It was how I like to imagine all politicians are before they get squeezed through the wringer of Westminster and emerge a smooth and mono-dimensional version of their original real, wrinkly, unpolished selves.

New Furzefield candidate Peter Knell, 62, is a taxi driver and has never worked on a council before. He may be naive, he may be lacking in political experience and local knowledge, but one thing he is not is uncommitted to the job at hand.

"My wife and I have been out every weekday for at least two hours and every Saturday," he said, while June - his devoted wife - looked on fondly. "We have knocked on every single door, asking people what they want us to do. When they weren't in, we left a note. It was the only way we could be sure of getting their vote."

Though Mr Knell and his wife could not entirely agree on the current state of disrepair of Potters Bar streets - he thought they were pretty good, June thought them "appalling" and "disgusting" - they were certainly agreed about one thing: Peter Knell was Passionate, Committed and Compassionate. Overall, the Man for the Job.

Another Man for the Job was 70-year-old Parkfield councillor John Donne. The opposite in experience, he was more than equal in enthusiasm. Having lived in the area since his marriage in 1961, he has now been serving his ward for 16 years and hopes to continue doing so as long as the residents will have him.

Dressed smartly in a shiny suit and spotty tie, and sporting a giant azure rosette, Mr Donne comes across as the slightly eccentric but kindly grandfather who takes you fishing and feeds you Worthers Originals. But a short conversation showed he was savvier than his tie would suggest.

"It's a wonderful and interesting ward to work in," he said while keeping half an eye on the growing pile of ballot papers being counted in his name behind him. "I have gotten a huge amount of pleasure out of it. There are always new ideas coming out because certain areas have quite a high turnover, with younger families moving in.

"I always try to make an effort to find out what ideas they've got. It's just a shame that they sometimes don't stay quite long enough to see the ideas come to fruition."

A more cynical person might suggest that it's only too easy to sound enthusiastic about tackling the big issues in a leafy suburb where transport links are good, green space is flourishing, people are old and happy, and a murder is about as likely as a Labour landslide at the next election... but I'm not so sure. I think these people are genuine, and I think the Government could do worse than take a leaf out of their book, replacing complacency with commitment, PR with passion, and bumbling excuses with bubbling excitement.

And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Flush with the joys of winning his first election, his wife and son beaming by his side, Mr Knell took the opportunity to make his first official statement as councillor.

"I feel absolutely jubilant," he said. "I am very much looking forward to working with a great team. And eventually reaching Number 10."