1986 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election

Last updated October 14, 2025

Elections to Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were held in May 1986. The whole council was up for election. Turnout was 35.0%.

Election result

Tower Hamlets local election result 1986^[1]
	Seats	Seats %	Votes %
Alliance	26		42.7
Labour	24		44.1
Conservative	0	0.0	7.2

Results by ward

^[2]

Blackwall

Blackwall (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Christine Shawcroft	834
	SDP	Jonathan Mathews	788
	Labour	Sunahwar Ali	661
	SDP	Russell Neale	657
	Conservative	Robert Hughes	129
Majority
Turnout			4,139	42.3
	Labour hold		Swing
	SDP gain from Labour		Swing

Bow

Bow (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Patricia Catchpole	1,198
	Liberal	Ronald Lebar	1,165
	Liberal	Anthony Wilcock	1,071
	Labour	Edward Caunter	795
	Labour	Wendy Allman	777
	Labour	Thomas Redmond	737
	Conservative	Bernard Jenkin	172
Majority
Turnout			6,278	34.6
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Bromley

Bromley (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Arthur Downes	1,458
	Labour	Anne Delargy	1,450
	Labour	Neil McAree	1,403
	Liberal	Beryl Day	1,292
	Liberal	Peter Hughes	1,139
	Liberal	Zofia Hart	1,112
	Conservative	Ralph Harrison	166
Majority
Turnout			7,383	41.1
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

East India

East India (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Terence Connolly	906
	Labour	Patrick Little	800
	Liberal	Maurice Caplan	541
	Liberal	Anthony Peter	464
	Independent Labour	David Canning	318
	Conservative	Peter Sayer	95
Majority
Turnout			4,925	36.2
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Grove

Grove (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Eric Flounders	1,049
	Liberal	Janet Ludlow	1,011
	Labour	John Griffin	701
	Labour	Julia Mainwaring	685
	Conservative	Barbara Perrott	104
	Conservative	Linda Ransom	81
Majority
Turnout			4,079	47.5
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Stephen Charters	1,526
	Liberal	Belinda Knowles	1,445
	Liberal	John Nudds	1,351
	Labour	Michael Chalkley	1,225
	Labour	Geoffrey Cade	1,167
	Labour	Salim Ullah	1,025
	BNP	David Ettridge	212
	Conservative	Anthony Norton	138
	Conservative	Anne-Marie Pedlingham	105
Majority
Turnout			6,836	44.7
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Lansbury

Lansbury (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Barry Blandford	1,119
	Liberal	Gwyneth Deakins	1,108
	Liberal	Pauline Fletcher	1,093
	Labour	Stephen Bowen	956
	Labour	Paul Collins	883
	Labour	Mary Hawkins	871
	Independent Labour	Reginald Beer	407
	Independent Labour	Paul Beasley	385
	Independent Labour	George Desmond	376
	Conservative	Christopher Kingsley-Smith	77
Majority
Turnout			6,853	38.7
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Limehouse

Limehouse (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	David Lewis	1,223
	Liberal	Stewart Rayment	1,153
	Liberal	Carolyn Manser	1,147
	Labour	Dennis Twomey	1,142
	Labour	Michael Tyrrell	1,105
	Labour	Oona Hickson	1,055
	Conservative	David Hughes	147
	Conservative	Geoffrey Lenox-Smith	137
Majority
Turnout			7,064	38.2
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

Millwall

Millwall (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Alan Porter	1,119
	Labour	Maria Shanahan	1,114
	Labour	Timothy Staten	1,013
	SDP	John Moore	822
	SDP	Brian Kettell	738
	Island Independent	Peter Wade	702
	Island Independent	George Pye	701
	Island Independent	William Kilgour	687
	SDP	Arthur Praag	664
	Conservative	Peter Holland	204
Majority
Turnout			8,480	33.8
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Park

Park (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Terence Cowley	1,154
	Liberal	Brian Williams	1,153
	Labour	Belle Harris	781
	Labour	Sean Gardiner	766
	Conservative	David Ranson	86
	Conservative	John Livingstone	73
Majority
Turnout			4,854	44.1
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Redcoat

Redcoat (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Christopher Birt	1,184
	Liberal	Ludlow Smith	1,158
	Labour	Stephen Joseph	920
	Labour	Walter Leary	907
	Conservative	Paul Ingham	159
	Conservative	Peter Ainsworth	126
Majority
Turnout			5,269	45.5
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing
	Liberal gain from Labour		Swing

St Dunstan's

St Dunstan's (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Susan Carlyle	1,227
	Labour	Terence Sullivan	1,191
	Labour	Jahangir Alam	1,142
	Liberal	Julian Brett-Freeman	1,058
	Liberal	Lesley Morpurgo	924
	Liberal	Philip Truscott	911
	National Front	Roger Evans	256
	Conservative	Maureen Bashford	241
	Conservative	Kevin Collins	214
Majority
Turnout			6,742	40.7
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

St James'

St James' (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Barrie Duffey	833
	Labour	Albert Jacob	800
	Labour	Eileen Short	782
	Liberal	Mark Hook	757
	Conservative	Hugh Hunter	134
	Conservative	Hugh Smith	127
Majority
Turnout			5,222	35.5
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

St Katharine's

St Katharine's (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Rowe	1,651
	Labour	Ashek Ali	1,562
	Labour	Mohammed Ahmed	1,513
	SDP	Konor Ali	714
	SDP	George Clark	695
	SDP	Moshahid Hussain	640
	Conservative	Adrian George	461
	Conservative	Andrew Smith	410
	Conservative	Sheila Folan	371
	Independent	Stephen Smith	84
Majority
Turnout			8,668	34.9
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

St Mary's

St Mary's (2)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Robert Ashkettle	948
	Labour	Barnett Saunders	861
	SDP	Abdul Barik	316
	SDP	Paul Mathurin	253
	Conservative	Mohammad Ali	218
	Conservative	Robert Ingram	147
Majority
Turnout			4,848	31.1
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

St Peter's

St Peter's (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Brenda Collins	1,324
	Liberal	Patrick Streeter	1,316
	Liberal	Andrew Goodchild	1,291
	Labour	Maureen Caldon	904
	Labour	Rosemary Maher	871
	Labour	Joseph Ramanoop	838
	Conservative	Amanda Drury	171
	Conservative	Nicholas Greenfield	143
Majority
Turnout			7,525	33.9
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

Shadwell

Shadwell (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Albert Lilley	1,121
	Labour	Charles Mudd	1,101
	Labour	John Riley	1,057
	SDP	David Webb	881
	SDP	John Minch	868
	SDP	Geoffrey White	810
	Conservative	Ronald Mitchell	198
Majority
Turnout			6,265	35.7
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing

Spitalfields

Spitalfields (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Abbas Uddin	1,246
	Labour	Ghulam Mortuza	1,019
	Labour	Philip Maxwell	988
	Independent	Muhammed Huque	837
	SDP	Akikur Rahman	590
	SDP	William Kelly	444
	Independent Labour	Syed Islam	402
	SDP	Muhammed Mustafa	387
	Conservative	Jane Emmerson	215
	Independent	Betty Wright	199
	Conservative	Andrew Chapman	189
Majority
Turnout			5,648	45.2
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour hold		Swing
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

Weavers

Weavers (3)
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Jeremy Shaw	1,645
	Liberal	Jeanette Welsh	1,530
	Liberal	Kofi Appiah	1,496
	Labour	Susan Hurley	1,336
	Labour	Mohammed Ludi	1,227
	Labour	John Onslow	1,201
	Conservative	Lillian Ingram	184
	Conservative	Linda O'Connell	146
Majority
Turnout			7,505	42.5
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing
	Liberal hold		Swing

References

↑ Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1993). Local Elections in Britain: A Statistical Digest. Plymouth: Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre.
↑ London Borough Council Elections, 8 May 1986. London: Research and Intelligence Unit, London Residuary Body. 1990.

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[1] Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (1993). Local Elections in Britain: A Statistical Digest. Plymouth: Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre.

[2] London Borough Council Elections, 8 May 1986. London: Research and Intelligence Unit, London Residuary Body. 1990.

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[2]

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