Sunak under Pressure after Dire Tory Losses and Leadership Gripes

THE GUARDIAN: PM calls results ‘disappointing’, while Labour says it’s on track to win power at next general election

One of Rishi Sunak’s Tory MPs described the losses to the Lib Dems and Greens in the south as ‘a bloodbath’. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Rishi Sunak has faced devastating losses of more than 1,000 Tory seats in the local elections, while Labour has said the party is on track to win power at the next general election.

The prime minister conceded on Friday the English council results were “disappointing”, but faced a scathing verdict from some of his MPs and the first rumblings of a threat to his leadership from allies of Boris Johnson.

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, was buoyed up by winning more than 500 seats, with the party believing its projected vote share puts it on course to take power in 2024 for the first time in 14 years. » | Rowena Mason and Peter Walker | Friday, May 5, 2023

Recent Conservative prime ministers: A succession of duds, one dud after the other! First came Cameron, an unmitigated disaster because of Brexit, then came May, slightly better, but still a disaster, then came Boris Johnson, a total and utter disaster, then Liz Truss, an unspeakable disaster, a cipher, and now Sunak, yet another disaster – a catastrophe, a calamity waiting to happen! (or has it already happened?) – © Mark Alexander

Tories Could Lose over 1,000 Seats in Labour’s Local Election Landslide

May 5, 2023 | “It looks like the Conservatives could be on for over 1,000 losses.” Today is ‘not a good day’ for the Conservative party, says Joe Twyman, co-founder of Delta Poll.

Boris Johnson’s Tories Exhibit the Morbid Symptoms of a fin-de-siècle Regime

THE OBSERVER – OPINION: Intellectual exhaustion and rampant sleaze often characterise parties which have been squatting on power for too long

The only guiding principle of this government is to keep a disgraced law-breaker in office.’Photograph: Daniel Leal/PA
At the next general election, the Conservatives will be making a very big ask. They will be seeking a fifth consecutive term in power, a privilege that has never been granted to any party since the Great Reform Act of 1832. Assume the election is held in the spring of 2024. Imagine that the Tories receive the answer that they are looking for. We could then be contemplating 19 uninterrupted years of Conservative prime ministers.

For those who shudder at this future, the consoling news is that the Tories are working extremely hard to ensure that this does not happen. It is not entirely their fault that they are presiding over the most severe squeeze on living standards since the 1950s. They are to blame for deciding that this is the appropriate time to be cutting welfare support and hiking taxes. Voters can be willing to make sacrifices when persuaded that it is in service of a noble cause, but the only guiding principle of this government is to keep a disgraced law-breaker in office. There is no sense of a strategy to address the many economic and social challenges confronting Britain. Nor any expectation, even among Tory MPs, that the government will suddenly reveal an invigorating mission in this week’s Queen’s speech.

Levelling up has not graduated from slogan to substance. Promises of a huge house-building programme have collapsed on contact with resistance to planning reform. The energy security plan blinked at the big questions. The failure of Brexit to deliver the opportunities claimed for it is now so evident that Jacob Rees-Mogg has been told to go looking for them. Don’t hold your breath. There is no discernible ambition to tackle the chronically poor economic growth that has been a feature of this era of Tory rule. » | Andrew Rawnsley | Sunday, May 8, 2022

Local Elections 2022: PM Says Tories Had ‘Tough Night’

Tories Lose Wandsworth and Westminster in Symbolic Local Election Defeats

May 6, 2022 • The Conservative Party has lost control of Wandsworth and Westminster, its two flagship London councils, in a symbolic defeat for Boris Johnson in the local elections. Wandsworth, which has been held by the Conservatives since 1978 and was reportedly Margaret Thatcher’s favourite council, fell to the Labour Party early on Friday morning. Its outgoing Tory leader said voters had concerns about the Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party has lost control of Wandsworth and Westminster, its two flagship London councils, in a symbolic defeat for Boris Johnson in the local elections.

Wandsworth, which has been held by the Conservatives since 1978 and was reportedly Margaret Thatcher’s favourite council, fell to the Labour Party early on Friday morning. Its outgoing Tory leader said voters had concerns about the Prime Minister.

UKIP Rises: 'Real Democrats' Push Forward as Third Power
Britain's governing Conservative party is dramatically losing seats in local council elections, with the former political outsider - the eurosceptic UK Independence Party - making impressive gains. Early results show UKIP has so far grabbed 26 per cent of the vote, while coming second in the by-election in South-Shields, pushing the Tories into third place.

David Cameron: I Will Work Hard to Win Back UKIP Voters
David Cameron has promised to "work really hard" to win back voters who abandoned the Tories for Ukip after the anti-EU party enjoyed unprecedented success in the local elections.

Read the Daily Telegraph article here | Tim Ross, Political Correspondent | Friday, May 03, 2013

UKIP's Nigel Farage Says 'Send in the Clowns'
BBC: Nigel Farage says Thursday's local elections in England and Wales signal "a real sea change" in British politics, after UKIP made early gains.

The party is averaging 26% of the vote in the wards where it is standing, something Mr Farage says puts them in a strong position for 2015.

In a jubilant mood, he told the BBC, "send in the clowns", referring to jibes from senior Tories in the war of words before Thursday's vote. Watch BBC video » | Friday, May 03, 2013