Defiant Boris brushes off London Tory bloodbath in local elections

Defiant Boris Johnson brushed off demands to quit from furious Tories today as the party suffered a local election bloodbath in London - but Keir Starmer failed to make big strides towards power. 

After a campaign dominated by sleaze and Partygate, the Conservatives lost the totemic strongholds of Wandsworth and Westminster - which they have held since 1978 and 1964 respectively - to Labour. 

Labour also seized Barnet and Southampton, while West Oxfordshire and Worcester went to no overall control.

As counting continues, livid local leaders have already been turning on the PM, ordering Mr Johnson to 'look in the mirror' and consider whether he should stay. 

But so far the results have not been as apocalyptic as some had predicted, with voting guru John Curtice saying Labour still does not look in a position to win a majority at the next general election. 

He pointed out that the party's vote appears slightly down outside of London compared to the last time the seats were contested in 2018 - and crucially it did not make huge inroads into the so-called Red Wall.

Sir Keir visited Barnet this morning and claimed his party was 'back on track', but No10 insiders jibed that he could not even 'dream' of being premier based on this showing. 

The Downing Street source also delivered a stark message to would-be leadership rivals, telling MailOnline it is 'hard to imagine any other Conservative leader doing better than this'. 

The biggest winners from the local elections have been the Lib Dems and the Greens, who have been taking seats off both main parties. 

The Tories are in line to lose between 200 and 300 councillors - a grim toll but far lower than the 800 some had feared. 

Some senior Conservatives warned that Mr Johnson had been the fundamental problem on the doorstep, and ministers are anxious. 'There is serious unease. They know that Boris was the issue,' one veteran campaigner told MailOnline. 'It wasn't policies, despite the cost-of-living crisis.'

However, MPs have been relatively muted in their public criticism of Mr Johnson, with former minister Stephen Hammond saying he must 'prove his integrity to the country again'. 

And Cabinet ministers rallied round this morning, with Tory chairman Oliver Dowden blaming a mid-term backlash from voters and insisting the PM is the right person to lead into the next general election. 

The PM was said to be pessimistic about his party's chances of avoiding a drubbing before the counts began, with the BBC reporting he yesterday told aides: 'We are going to get our a*** kicked tonight.' 

Conservative leader of Carlisle City Council John Mallinson urged Tory MPs to decide whether they wanted Mr Johnson to lead them into the next general election.

He told Sky News the PM 'must shoulder an awful lot of the blame' for a poor local elections performance and described how Partygate and the cost-of-living crisis were key concerns of voters.

Mr Mallinson said there was a feeling among the public that 'the Government are not in touch and, sadly I have to say, the PM cannot be relied upon to be telling the truth'.

He said Mr Johnson said Mr Johnson would be a 'poor option' to lead the Tories into the next election and he expected Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the powerful 1922 Committee, to receive more letters of no confidence in Mr Johnson from MPs.

The councillor added: 'Whether it gets to 54 or not (the number of letters needed to trigger a confidence vote in the PM), I'm not sure. But I rather feel that's they way it's going.'

Simon Bosher, the Conservative group leader on Portsmouth City Council, said: 'Those in power in Westminster really do need to take a good hard look in the mirror.

'Because it's the rank-and-file grassroots members who they rely on who are actually losing their seats tonight.'

He also called on the PM to reflect on the Tories' local election performance as he hit out at 'too many mistakes, too many mismanged situations' from the party's leadership.

Barnet Conservative leader Daniel Thomas said Labour's victory in the London borough 'does not bode well' for the Tories ahead of the next general election. 

'I think this is a warning shot from Conservative supporters and I think our loss today is not only due to the fact that I have just mentioned but also a fair number of Conservative voters who just didn't go out to vote, stayed at home,' he said. 

'Clearly if Labour are to get a majority in Parliament they need to win Barnet. They won the council, if they win our parliamentary constituencies as well.'

Marc Bayliss, the Tory leader of Worcester City Council, told reporters he was heading home early from the election count and is anticipating a disastrous night for his party.  

Mr Bayliss blamed Partygate and said the public had found the Government's performance 'wanting'. 

His comments were echoed by the leader of the Conservatives on Sunderland Council, Antony Mullen, who called for Boris Johnson to step down.

He told the BBC: 'It's been Partygate - it's suppressed our turnout. Quite clearly that's the only thing that has changed nationally that has affected this.

'The best chance of reviving the Conservative Party's fortunes will be with a new leader. If there is no improvement in the party's reputation, then clearly something has to change.'

The leader of the Labour group of Barnet council, which looks set to be a gain, admitted the results were more about disillusionment with the Tories than enthusiasm for his party.

Barry Rawlings told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I'll be honest, it's not us being wonderful.

'I think a lot of Conservatives haven't voted this time, I think they feel alienated from No 10 and that they are, I don't know, they've been disappointed with Boris Johnson and so not voting and I think that's made a difference as well.'

Despite the chaos, Labour also saw several surprising setbacks across the country.

Sir Keir's party lost Kingston upon Hull City Council to the resurgent Liberal Democrats, who appeared to be the early winners and were making gains across the country. 

The Lib Dems are also '99 per cent sure' that the Tories will lose control of West Oxfordshire - which includes ex-prime minister David Cameron's former seat Witney. 

It was a similar story for the Green Party who chipped away at Conservative and Labour seats in England.

Number 10 had feared for weeks that a dismal set of local election results would spark a Tory coup attempt in the wake of the Partygate scandal. 

Wimbledon MP Mr Hammond told the BBC that the results were 'a clarion bell ringing in Downing Street to make sure we are concentrating on the cost of living'  and Mr Johnson needed to restore his reputation after Partygate.

'I think he has to prove that his government is concentrating on what people really want,' he said. 

'I think he has to prove his integrity to the country again.' 

Mr Hammond also urged the PM to bring 'talents back into the government'.

'Any government that doesn't have people like Greg Clark and Jeremy Hunt clearly isn't using all the talents available to it,'

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