What we know now

Here are a few things that I think we’ve learnt from last night’s result:

1). The Tories are now the best closers in British politics: In London, the local elections and last night the Tories did significantly better than the final opinion polls suggested they would. This suggests that the Tory ground game is now good enough to add a couple of points to their score. At the next election, this could make the difference between a slim and solid Tory majority.

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James Delingpole

The day I was heckled for speaking about the rape gangs

2). ‘Tory hatred’ no longer moves votes: The Labour campaign desperately tried to whip up prejudice against a public school educated, lawyer who looked and sounded like a Tory. But this tactic comprehensively failed in a normally safe Labour seat; the electoral sting appears to have been finally drawn from the ‘Tory boy’ stereotype.