On the other hand, voters in Sheffield have rejected Mr Cameron's mare. Against were 82,890 (65 percent), with 44,571 (35 percent) for the proposition. This is in a city otherwise known as the Democratic Republic of Sheffield, where baths are used for storing coal. The left-wing, non-bathing theory is not holding.
Wakefield, however, has joined the list of
refusniks, rejecting the proposition by 62.2 â 37.8 percent on a turnout of 72,967 - 28.94 percent in
percentage terms. This is close the Coventry in the degree of rejection. By comparison, in the 2011 local elections there was a turnout of 35.5 percent, and in 2008 32.28 percent used their vote. In 2010 the turnout was 59.5 percent, although that was a general election year.
On the basis that there's always one, Council leader Coun Peter Box says: "Clearly the people of Wakefield have come out in favour of the existing system. This shows people have confidence that we have got a strong Labour council and they do not want change".
Newcastle-upon-Tyne adds itself to the list, with 61.9 percent saying no, against a mere 38.1 for the proposition. The total vote runs to 64,719. Just two more to come - Leeds and Birmingham. And the Brummies
throw it out, voting 57.8 percent against, against 42.2 percent, on a turnout of 208,696 - the best hope they had went west.
And finally, Leeds comes in, and within a few decimal points of Coventry. No less than 63.3 percent of voters reject the proposition, leaving a meagre 36.7 percent voting in favour, with 170,350 people casting a vote - a turnout of 31 percent. That makes nine out of ten cities turning down Cameron's invitation to elect a mayor.
Doncaster, on the other hand, having been given the opportunity to rid itself of its incubus,
has voted to keep its town mayor. Of the 68,075 voters who took part in the referendum, 44,571 (62 percent) voted for the mayor. The turnout was 30.5 percent, putting support for the proposition at 18.6 percent.
Caligula got
his horse as consul, but it looks as if Cameron is not going to get his mares.
Of the four results (of ten) so far in, Manchester voted against by a margin of 53.24 to 46.76 percent and Nottingham rejected the proposition by 57.5 to 42.5 percent, both on a turnout of 24 percent. Coventry delivered a vote of 63.58 to 36.42 percent against.
In Bradford, the vote was 55.13 to 44.87 against, despite a higher turnout of 35 percent and the support of George Galloway. Even he could not enthuse enough people to make it happen.
With the rest of the cities expected to reject the proposition, this is a humiliation for David Cameron, who invested considerable political capital in the idea. But only a politician completely divorced from reality, or a political groupie totally locked in the bubble, could argue that the answer to the current anti-politician sentiment was to elect more politicians.
Thus we have
Tim Montgomerie whinging about sabotage "by the vested interests of existing councillor establishements (sic)", failing completely (as so often) to understand what is going on.
Not only were councillors unenthused about elected mayors, people simply
could not see the point of having yet another layer of elected official to argue over the same set of powers. This is not "decentralisation" in any way â merely spreading the power more thinly between more professional politicians,
a sop to compensate for the popular feeling of alienation from government, arising out of our membership of the EU.
As a political option, this makes no more sense than appointing a horse a consul, and just about as cynical. The Cameron
projet deserved to fail.
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UPDATE: A majority in Bristol have voted "yes" to an elected mayor. The margin is said to be very small, 41,032 (53.35 percent) in favour compared with 35,880 (46.65 percent) against, on a 24 percent turnout. That means approximately thirteen percent of the electorate have voted in favour of the proposition. On that "democratic" basis, there is to be an election for a mayor on 15 November.