"A Mixed Bag"

So in the end it was an election for everybody and nobody. Labour lost control of Scotland and failed to regain Wales, but weren't quite wiped out in England. Cameron's Conservatives hit 40% in terms of the popular vote but didn't do well enough in the north to prove they can win the next general election. The Lib Dems made a few spectacular gains against both Labour (Hull) and the Tories (Eastbourne), but overall we lost some 200 councillors. That's because the last time we fought these seats we were riding high on anti-Iraq War feeling and the Tories were led by Iain Duncan-Smith.

There was some consolation in Guildford where, as I predicted, Labour were wiped out. We took their last two seats as I knew we would from my experiences on the doorsteps. But elsewhere in Guildford we made no gains against the Conservatives and so failed to take control of the Council. And there was much worse news just down the road in my mother's town of Godalming (Waverley Council) where we lost 21 seats to the Tories.

So "a mixed bag", as Ming said. Not bad enough for Gordon Brown or Ming to be doomed, but not good enough for David Cameron to be guaranteed victory.