Saturday 5th May 2007

Sean Fear on YourPlatform (8.30pm): How Well Did the Conservatives Do on May 3rd?

7.45pm Press Association: "Tony Blair tonight backs Gordon Brown to lead Labour into the next general election as he insists the party can bounce back from Thursday's battering at the polls. For the first time, the Prime Minister offers an explicit endorsement of the Chancellor's ability to steer the party towards a fourth consecutive term in office. Writing in the News of the World, Mr Blair acknowledges Labour has a fight on its hands at the next election but argues that the Tories' policies are a "not thought through"."

4pm ToryDiary: Reasons to be cheerful

1.45pm: The Telegraph has a piece on web-based politics that includes references to ConservativeHome.

11.45am ToryDiary: Still burying bad news

ToryDiary: Picks of the local press

"BLUE 'EM AWAY"

"David Cameron turned the map blue last night as he showed the Tories are finally back in business." - The Sun

"It wasn't the pundits Labour was running against; it was the Conservatives, who have won around 900 council seats while Labour has lost some 500. The governing party's collapse - including its eviction from large tracts of England - is no less dramatic for having been forecast. These days, political parties are said to do well when they beat the last opinion poll rather than when they beat their opponents. Surpassing expectations is more important than, well, winning. As a mental exercise, though, try excising from your mind everything you were told in advance about what would constitute a good result, and ponder the raw figures." - Telegraph leader

"Tony Travers, the local government expert at the London School of Economics, said the Tories were "winners by a short head" but were still struggling to make inroads in northern cities. "If you were David Cameron looking at these results, you'd think at least the Conservative party is no longer declining in the urban north," Mr Travers said." - Guardian

LABOUR'S TIDE HAS GONE OUT

"Even so from a Labour perspective the results are bleak. Like last year's elections they show that the progressive coalition that propelled Labour into power and kept it there is fracturing. Or to put it another way, the anti-Conservative coalition that formed so potently in the mid-1990s has ceased to function. If there is an informal coalition now it is defined more against Labour. The centre left is scattered all over the place, with the extraordinary outcome in Scotland being the most vivid example of a broader trend." - Steve Richards in the Independent

"The modern Labour party is about to get a second chance to shape the politics of 21st century Britain when Blair announces his departure next Thursday. But that second chance is not just about moving on from Iraq. It is about understanding that Labour - or indeed any other governing party - will only be able to make the most of its chance if it governs from the centre and if it thoroughly understands what governing from the centre actually implies." - Martin Kettle in the Guardian

LIB DEM AFTERMATH

"The Conservatives and Labour vied yesterday to put the best possible spin on Thursday's local elections, with each party portraying the results as a blow to their rivals. Only the Liberal Democrats admitted to suffering at the hands of the voters." - FT

"These were always going to be difficult local elections for the Lib Dems. The party's support in England fell, putting the party on the equivalent of 26 per cent, its weakest performance for six years. In Scotland and Wales, its support was little different from four years ago. Yet thanks to proportional representation it could end up in power. And whatever government is formed in Scotland, it is likely the Lib Dems will be part of it. Being in the centre clearly has its advantages." - Prof John Curtice in the Independent

"Sir Menzies Campbell's leadership of the Liberal Democrats was under fresh scrutiny yesterday after swaths of seats fell to the Conservatives, and Labour taunted the party by saying its performance had been dreadful." - Guardian

TAX CUTS AREN'T SERVICE CUTS

"Polly Toynbee is wrong. It is possible to have excellent frontline council services and low council tax, as Conservative councils such as Wandsworth, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea show year after year. In Hammersmith and Fulham we are starting to turn around a council crippled by bureaucracy, political correctness, red tape, unions and vested interests. We have just delivered the biggest council tax cut in Britain - 3% - but we are also investing £1.5m over two years to pay for round-the-clock beat policing in our town centres, as well as spending more on schools and continuing to provide free personal care, at home, for our most vulnerable residents - one of only two councils in London to do so." - Letter to the Guardian from Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh

OTHER NEWS & COMMENTARY

52 Peers pledge support for Alan Johnson's Deputy bid - Letter to the Guardian

Andrew Pierce says he'll do a little skip when spinmeister Blair goes - Telegraph

...AND A GOOD DAY FOR CONSERVATIVEHOME, TOO

"The internet really comes into its own on election nights, as I saw in that BBC pub I was in last night. The Beeb had to wait for results to be announced, as it has for decades, but the ConservativeHome team sitting opposite me had a constant stream of emails from Tory central office and councillors up and down the country feeding the gossip. We were waiting on them to see what’s happening. It’s a great environment for the new media, and an ideal time for the Spectator Coffee House to launch." - Fraser Nelson of The Spectator

We also received a record 33,821 hits!

Please use this thread to highlight other interesting news and commentary...