 Whilst the term of a council at that time was three years, the Government extended the life of all the London Boroughs in order to de-synchronize the timetabling of elections with those of the Greater London Council.However, the 1968 council elections were a disaster for the Labour Party who were in national government at the time, and this was reflected in this borough – the three-year period 1968–1971 remains the only time in the borough's existence that Labour has not formed the administration.Non-Labour governance didn't take – the 1971 election saw the Conservative Party unable to defend its gains, as – now in national government itself – it was crushed in turn.