Richard Olszewski has been the council’s finance chief under Georgia Gould’s leadership

LABOUR councillors have today (Sunday) voted for Richard Olszewski to be the new leader of Camden Council.

The ruling group met over video call to fill the vacancy at the top left by Georgia Gould, who has been in charge for seven years but stepped down after becoming the MP for Maida Vale and Queen’s Park at the July 4 general election.

Officially, Cllr Olszewski, who served as Cllr Gould’s finance chief, must wait until tomorrow’s (Monday’s) full council meeting to be confirmed in the role but this is just a matter of procedure.

He has been a councillor in Fortune Green since 2014 – although he is on his second stretch as Camden councillor having represented Regent’s Park in the 1990s. During his time away from the Town Hall, he worked as a special adviser to Lord John Reid – one of the home secretaries during Tony Blair’s government.

In recent times, he also showed interest in becoming an MP and was close to be selected in Dudley ahead of the general election, after making the long-list in other areas.

Several Labour councillors put their name forward to succeed Ms Gould and there was no clear winner after the first round of voting.