Ever since the Conservatives distracted the whole country on a night of bad elections results by asking us to focus on Bradford, Westminster and Wandsworth, we have often suffered the lowering of expectations so that the marginal results became the test of the overall result.
In the case of London, the notion that Khan was to be beaten by a very poor candidate was bizarre. Yet the Conservatives started pushing the idea after a disastrous set of results on Friday. And the BBC tv politics presenter joined in! –
Laura Kuenssberg – @bbclaurak ·
“What’s going on in the London Mayoral race? No votes have been counted yet, so hold on to your hats.. but it is clear tonight that the race is much much closer than some polls had suggested…“
Poor judgement, reflecting a political bias.
The West Midlands result was close, but the Conservatives had rather built up the idea that their Mayor was going to be the result of the elections for some time. Yet Labour won it by 1,500, despite the reduction of the electorate and the use of voter i.d. to suppress turnout. The result came late on the Saturday, but what a moment for Labour.
And the results in summary – the Conservatives lost
– 10 councils,
– 474 Councillors,
– a combined authority mayor,
– 8 Police & Crime Commissioners and
– yet another parliamentary seat on a 26% swing.
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