Day 393

My hope on Wednesday was granted. The Tories got an enormous beating. The Liberals overturned a 12,500 Tory majority at Newbury: they got a majority of 22,000! A massive 28% swing, bigger than Orpington.

The Tories were beaten out of sight in the council elections: they lost control in 15 counties, keeping only Buckinghamshire. Labour are now the largest party in Essex! The Liberal I voted for won, a rare thing in my experience. The Tories lost all the council seats here. It was on BBC1, which I watched after Pris last night, County Hall I mean, as 'Essex Man rejects Tories'.

The high-water-mark of optimism is the observation was that if a general election had gone the same way, Labour would be in power with an overal majority of 87, and the Liberals would have 56 seats. Of course you can't extrapolate local elections directly, but it's a good sign. The Tories lost control of counties they've had for 104 years!

Went into town, checked local results at County Hall.