A new leader, mayor and cabinet were all appointed at the annual meeting of Harrow Borough Council last night.

The council was officially taken over by the new Labour administration at the Harrow Civic Centre in Station Road.

The party took control from the Conservative group following Labour’s victory in the local elections last month.

The group’s leader Councillor David Perry was also voted in as leader of the council.

He said: “I want to thank the people of Harrow for putting their trust in our party.

“The people have spoken and they have had to deal with the poisons politics over the last 12 months which have been a difficult.

“They have shown they want the Labour party running this council for the next four years.

“We face some major challenges in the future but we are up for those challenges and we will do all we can to work for the community of Harrow.”

In his nomination David Perry, Cllr Phill O’Dell said: “The electorate have spoken and they have rejected the Conservatives vision for Harrow.

“We had a hiccup last year but now that has been put right.”

The meeting also saw the appointment of Cllr Ajay Maru as Mayor of Harrow, taking over from Nana Asante.

The Conservative group nominated Cllr Chris Mote to become mayor as he had been due to take over the role four years ago but was unable to after Labour’s election victory in 2010.

Leader of the Tory Group Susan Hall said: “Chris Mote is a Harrow boy through and through and politics has been in his blood for most of his life.

“He has all the characteristics needed or mayor and he ticks all the boxes. He has all the experience you need to be the borough’s first citizen.

“Ajay is a lovely person and I’m sure will make a great mayor one day, but he doesn’t have the experience.”

However Cllr Keith Ferry, deputy leader of the council, said Cllr Maru becoming mayor “put right the wrong of 12 months ago when he was dumped as deputy by the Independent Labour group.”

Cllr Krishna Suresh was appointed as deputy mayor for the coming year the new council cabinet, announced earlier this week, was also agreed by the council.