Ashley Bramall - Municipal Affairs

Municipal Affairs

Bramall was active in local politics in the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster although the local boundaries made it extremely difficult for Labour candidates to win seats. The boundaries had been the same since 1900 and in the mid-1950s the Council decided to change them, using the Rateable Value of property as one way of making each ward equal in size. The local Labour Party, under Bramall's guidance and advocacy, challenged this method at a public inquiry and persuaded the Boundary Commissioner to accept a new scheme for the wards which Bramall had drawn up.

After this boundary change took effect in 1959 the Labour Party won enough seats to elect him as an Alderman. He was elected as a councillor to the new Westminster City Council; when he lost his seat in 1968 the Conservative group blocked his election as an Alderman. In 1961 he was elected to the London County Council and made the transition to the Greater London Council when that body was set up in 1964; he was one of eight people to serve as a member of the GLC throughout its existence.

Membership of the GLC made him an ex officio member of the Inner London Education Authority and Bramall specialised in education issues. He was Chairman of ILEA from 1965 until Labour lost power in 1967. He was then chosen to lead the Labour Group. Labour won back control in 1970 and Bramall then became Leader of the authority.