If you want to know how last night was for the Labour Party, you need to look no further than the statement that Jeremy Corbyn has just released on the results. It is not a celebratory comment on Labour’s spectacular night, but a defensive one, describing the local elections as a ‘solid set of results’. He adds:
‘In a sign of how worried they are about Labour’s advance, the Tories talked up our chances to unrealistic levels, especially in London. The results show they’re right to be worried – we came within a whisker of winning Wandsworth for the first time in over 40 years.’
Corbyn is right, by the way: the Tories spent months telling anyone who was half listening that they were going to get trounced in these elections. That they were successful in this briefing war is shown by the fact that Corbyn has to address their predictions at all in this statement.
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