An emotional Jason Perry paid tribute to his mother, who died during the campaign, in his acceptance speech.
Croydon’s Conservatives have bucked the trend in London by winning the borough’s first mayoralty.
The directly elected mayor replaces the former cabinet system, where councillors selected their own leader from within their ranks.
The win also opens the door for London’s first council power-split, as the new Tory mayor, Jason Perry, could have to work with a Labour majority.
Mr Perry paid a tearful tribute to his late mother in his acceptance speech.
It had been an unexpectedly long and gruelling count and dawn had broken by the time the final result was declared, after a run-off between Conservative and Labour candidates and then a final recount.
In a close contest, Labour’s Val Shawcross picked up 6,617 second preferences, giving her a total of 38,023.
Mr Perry won 5,199 second preference votes in the run-off, but started with more first preference votes and ended with a combined tally of 38,612 votes.
He had to turn his back to the crowd on the stage to compose himself as he waited for the final declaration and became tearful during his acceptance speech, where he thanked his late mother for her support during the campaign until her death.
As he left the stage, he shared an emotional embrace with his wife, Melanie, and son William, who also shed a tear as he congratulated his father and told him “she would be so proud”.
Speaking to BBC London afterwards, William said: “It’s a bit hard to put into words because my nan didn’t make it but she was with my dad at his first count in 1994 and she’s here today, looking down.”
Croydon’s new mayor said he was “very emotional, very excited and very much looking forward to getting to work” once the borough’s new councillors were elected in a postponed count later on Saturday.
“It means a great deal,” he said. “Croydon has been in a bad place and now it’s time for us to come together and move forwards.
“The finances I’m sure played a part. I really want to try and make it positive now, move on and get better.
“Obviously in London we have had a couple of difficult results but this will be a shining light, I hope, and we can show people how it’s done because we bucked the trend. We’re here to deliver.”
Mr Perry also lent his support to Boris Johnson, despite his party losing councils including Westminster, Wandsworth and Barnet.
“I believe he is still the leader to lead us,” he said. “But I have not seen the outside world for a while.”
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- 7 October 2021
