There are two big questions in UK politics, neither of which has been decisively resolved by local election results in England so far – and probably won’t be by the time all UK results are announced over the coming few days.
They are: Will and should Conservative MPs remove Boris Johnson as their leader and the country’s prime minister? And has Keir Starmer set Labour on a path that could see the party win the next general election?
In London, the swing from Tory to Labour of three symbolically important councils – Barnet, Wandsworth and above-all Westminster – is humiliating for a Prime Minister who still boasts of his erstwhile popularity as two-time London mayor.
Johnson’s fate, Tory MPs say, will be determined by whether he receives more fines
It also confirms the durability of the big Brexit-connected historic switch in British politics: that much of the very rich south is now hostile territory for the Tories, whereas swathes of the working class midlands and north remain relatively fertile ground for Johnson’s Conservatives.
To put that into seat numbers, in London by breakfast time Labour had won 44 council seats in London and actually lost six net outside London.
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