BRITAIN:Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday exceeded his highest expectations in the local elections in England and Wales to establish himself beyond question as a serious contender for power come the general election.
As one bookmaker reportedly paid out in anticipation of a Boris Johnson victory over Ken Livingstone in London, prime minister Gordon Brown was being warned he had just six months in which to prove he can lead Labour to victory after presiding over his party's worst local election results for 40 years.
A badly chastened Mr Brown - who thought six months ago to win a "snap" general election and destroy the Cameron leadership - insisted he would "learn the lessons" of Labour's projected slump to just 24 per cent of the popular vote and a miserable third place ranking behind the Liberal Democrats.
Recently elected Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg claimed their second place and modest seat gains had given his party new momentum, although it appeared Mr Clegg had actually fallen a point below the result achieved last year under former leader Menzies Campbell.
Mr Cameron, meanwhile, embarked on a whistle stop tour to celebrate Tory advances in the north as well as the south of England, and in Wales, where Labour failed to regain control of Cardiff and lost control in the once impregnable Valleys' strongholds of Merthyr Tydfil, Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent.
Perhaps conscious that his policy prospectus may now come under closer scrutiny than ever before, Mr Cameron declared this "a big moment for the Conservative Party . . . a big step forward" before warning against "one ounce of complacency" on his party's part.
As his party chalked up more than 250 gains, a jubilant Mr Cameron told reporters: "I think these results are not just a vote against Gordon Brown and his Government. I think they are a vote of positive confidence in the Conservative Party. I think this is a very big moment for the Conservative Party but I don't want anyone to think that we should deserve to win an election just on the back of a failing government."
He continued: "I want us to really prove to people that we can make the changes they want to see. That's what I'm going to devote myself and my party to doing over the next few months."
With some results still to be declared and his party suffering losses of more than 330 seats, Mr Brown admitted it had been "a bad night" for Labour while insisting: "My job is to listen and to lead, and that is what I will do."
Amid the clearest evidence that his abolition of the 10p tax rate had badly damaged Labour among traditional supporters and with the backdrop of mounting gloom about the wider economic outlook, Mr Brown said: "It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night, for Labour. I said I was going to listen and lead. We are in difficult economic circumstances. I think people accept that we're going through some of the most challenging times we've seen in many years."
But he went on: "The test of leadership is not what happens in a period of success but what happens in difficult circumstances."
The alarm bells were ringing among anxious backbench MPs, however, as analysts described Thursday's results as almost a "mirror image" of Tony Blair's drubbing of John Major in 1995, just two years before New Labour's first landslide victory.
Health secretary Alan Johnson was among ministers who rallied to Mr Brown's defence. He told the BBC the prime minister was not the problem and declared himself "more convinced than ever" that Mr Brown was "a serious man for serious times".
However, former home secretary David Blunkett said the government had to "get a grip" and re-engage with voters' every day concerns. Labour MP Derek Wyatt, who has one of the smallest majorities in the Commons, branded Labour's performance "a John Major moment" and suggested Mr Brown was "no longer in charge of the agenda". While there was little "mood music" among MPs for a leadership challenge, Mr Wyatt said his own seat was "already sub-prime".
"We have got until the party conference [in the autumn] to look at the policies and get it sorted out. Otherwise there will be a point of no return," Mr Wyatt said.
That approach was also reflected by Ian Gibson MP, who said Mr Brown had until the conference to show he could lead Labour to victory or face angry challenges. "I think Brown is the man to do it . . . I'll give him six months to do it or there will be really hard talking." As the Tories celebrated, Welsh labour leader and first minister Rhodri Morgan urged Mr Brown to heed the warnings of the ballot box amid Tory predictions that there were no longer any "safe" Labour seats in Wales.