Oh What a Night

It’s 1968 all over again … so I’m told - not that I was around to remember 1968.

I do remember the mid nineties, though. The delusion that it was all mid-term blues, that every minor ministerial announcement might help to turn the tide. That losing hundred of council seats was a temporary blip and the opinion polls were telling it wrong again. Alas, the dark days for the party were the precursor to the drubbing we got in 1997.

Note to Labour activists – this is where you are. The tide has turned, and there’s nothing you can do about it except brace yourself and work to keep the next Conservative parliamentary majority to a minimum. Of course, as a good Tory I hope Labour carry on as we did and crash and burn in 2009/10.

So we have taken councils like Harlow - not a bad barometer, Bury – a good foothold in Greater Manchester, Southampton - where yours truly spent the odd student night out (OK, so no political significance there), and Maidstone, which has been NOC for donkey’s years, and was something of a near miss for us last year, and not just because of my efforts.

The Lib Dems have consolidate their position … as the anti-party. They used to be anti-Conservative, now they are anti-Labour. Swapping their ex-Conservative councils for Town Halls gained from Labour. Is there anyone who genuinely votes for the Lib Dems, rather than against the incumbent party?

The inevitable General Election projections give the Conservatives a majority approaching 140, but of course these are local elections and some Labour support will return to the fold when it comes to the crunch, but things are looking good.