Thank you

This message is to thank the thousands who voted for me and especially thank those that campaigned for me. You were remarkably wonderful.

And thank you to the people of Devon, Cornwall and the Islands as a whole. I commend the victor to you. Tony Hogg was an honourable contender and I respect your choice to give him the very considerable authority he will accrue as from Thursday 22nd November when he takes over and the Police Authority is abolished. I am sure he will wield the power he dispenses on our behalf with dignity.

The hustings: This one in Dawlish

Especially thanks to my wife Veronica, and to my sister, Maggie Tomkinson from East Devon, who worked tirelessly as my agent. What an adventure this campaign has been. I will now return to my work as Secretary General of the Next Century Foundation where we are preparing to send a team into Gaza led by my son Samuel whom some of you will have met on the campaign trail. I too will also be back and forth to Gaza and Israel during the coming months whenever we are not busy putting together the forthcoming International Media Awards, one of this world's more heartening events.

I well remember being in a public meeting in Saltash when someone described Saltash as the frontline between Devon and Cornwall and said, "This is the Gaza Strip", and my much unfairly maligned fellow contestant, Tam Macpherson of Plymouth said, "If this is the Gaza Strip then I live in Beirut". And perhaps he was right; Union Street Plymouth is arguably more dangerous than downtown Beirut late on a Saturday night.

There are huge problems in Devon and Cornwall and I believe the position of Police Commissioner is that of a kind of peacekeeper and presents a rare and magnificent opportunity to do some real good in this broken but beautiful world. Good luck to Tony Hogg in his endeavours (and to his wife who will need to be something of a grass widow at least for the next month or so).

But mostly, let me say what an opportunity this has been to really get to know my homeland here in the South West. What a magnificent part of the world we live in. I cherish the time I have spent on this campaign. My thanks to all who read this. I count you all my friends.

Yours ever

William

p.s. Ambassador Hambley, my US advisor on zero tolerance policies and my friend (some of you may have met him on the campaign trail) wrote the following note on the results. You may like to have it for your reference:

Well, the preliminary "first cut" results for the election for Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly (PCC) have been tabulated.

This is, by far, the largest constituency geographically in the United Kingdom and had far more candidates (10) than constituencies with a far larger number of registered voters -- many of which had only 3 or 4 candidates running for this potentially powerful office.

Voters were asked to vote for two candidates -- one as their first preference and a second -- if they wish -- as their second preference candidate.

Only the two candidates with the highest totals of first preference votes go forward to the final round of counting for the second votes to determine the actual winner. The second preference votes for all of the remaining eight  candidates were then distributed among the first two.

A total of 196,987 votes were cast, which is only a mere 15.14% of the total electorate.

The two leading candidates were:

Hogg (Cons) 55,257
Greenslade (Indep/LibDem) 24,719

The other candidates received the following votes:

Williams (Labour) 24,196
Blake (LibDem) 23,948
Smith (UKIP) 16,433
Jordan (Indep) 12,382
Morris (Indep) 10,586
Smith (Indep) 10,171
Calderwood (Indep) 8,667
Macpherson (Indep) 4,306

The night clearly went to the Conservatives. With almost a 30,000 vote lead, it was impossible for Greenslade to overcome the Tories.

Team Morris performed brilliantly. Despite our failure on this occasion, the team -- energetically led by Agent Margaret Tompkinson with assistance from family and friends throughout the area --  put on an excellent and inspiring campaign against what in the end proved to be insurmountable odds.