The secret diary of an ex-almo

Christmas Day: Chez Litherland
Christmas is for giving, so I haven't wished for much – just the second series of Phoenix Nights on DVD and a positive outcome for Camden's arm's-length management organisation ballot. The latter should have been done and dusted by now – but after a two-day hearing in the High Court, Justice Munby reserved his judgment until the new year. If we lose the judicial review, 13,000 ballot papers are likely to be shredded and we're back to square one.

Thursday 8 January: Royal Courts of Justice, central London
2pm
You get tipped off about the substance of a ruling before it's handed down, so there was no surprise in our comprehensive legal victory, as we believed we'd won the argument hands down.

Our barrister described it as a "beautiful" judgment – contrary to the claims of anti-transfer campaigners, it deemed our consultation and ballot to be full, fair and lawful. A vindication of six months' hard work and a useful test case for aspiring ALMOs and their legal consultants, some of whom had come over to hear the result.

I went out for the photocall on the Strand. The advice in such circumstances is not to look triumphalist (which was a doddle).

3pm
My mobile rings. It's the Electoral Reform Services and the tone is sombre: tenants have voted 77% to 23% against the ALMO.

"Have you got the 'fors' and 'againsts' the wrong way round?" No. Oh.

I tell key people. We agree to make it public the following day. No one had foreseen this. Still, we had wanted a clear outcome – 51-49% either way would have been worse.

10pm: at home
My dad rings. His response is a good mix of paternal support and political analysis: "You didn't invent ALMOs … it's a vote of confidence in your services."

Friday 9 January: Camden town hall
A meeting with the leadership – Camden at its best. Such a rallying-round of officers and members that I wonder if my dad's done a ring round. We are stunned, but unbowed. No recriminations: we've followed government policy on the options and its guidance on consultation. Our message to tenants had been, "the choice is yours". We can't blame them for choosing.

Council leader Jane Roberts has already spoken to the housing minister and set up a meeting. Statements are prepared, press briefings set up. We go through those who should find out directly.

Monday 12 January
Plan Bs trickle in from well-wishers. "Do a Birmingham. Break the borough down into areas and start smaller." Great, at 80-20 against, we might have the smallest ALMO in the world. "Repackage, rebrand, re-ballot." Err, thanks. "A mega-PFI scheme!" Another top idea: the round-one pilots have been struggling for four years. The reality is that none of the government's three options are viable. The ALMO cannot be salvaged.

Tuesday 13 January
The meeting with housing minister Keith Hill goes as well as could be expected.

Hill: "There will be no quick decisions … the ODPM will work with you … but there are still only three options."

Roberts: "Camden tenants are no less entitled to decent homes … Labour wants choice in public services – our tenants have made one. They believe in what works – our services do. Two stars is good enough; we got three stars twice. We've exhausted the options."

Eventually, Jane and I get to the nub. If the money and the need are there, why can't a three-star council get the resources anyway? The minister hears this one as rhetorical.

It seems understood that Camden's ALMO is an ex-ALMO. It has shuffled off this mortal coil. Bereft of life, it rests in peace.

Friday 16 January
Camden New Journal (a local free weekly that rubbished the ALMO all along) runs a "battle of the ALMO" special – a sort of souvenir pull-out. Islington council's leader is already said to be after some of Camden's £283m. Others are circling.

We make The Guardian's main section. Then Housing Today lands on my desk with its funereal cover and I laugh out loud. It was the best of the available options.