Dire rumours flying about the Mayoral count, hopefully all untrue. The worst is that we may not have a winner by midnight. Adam Boulton at Sky News confident of getting one tonight – but perhaps not until 10.30pm. One Tory Shadow Cabinet member says he has been told there’s 1% in it, so they will have to do a recount anyway – this conflicts with numerous reports that Boris is comfortably ahead. Even Brian Paddick has called it for Boris. But we were supposed to get the first vote at 3pm and the final result at 5pm. It’s now 6pm and most votes remain uncounted. The high turnout has overwhelmed the system, I’m told.
What strikes me is not just the scale of the results – although Labour’s loss of 295 seats and Tory gains of almost 400 is certainly an unalloyed disaster. It’s the way Cabinet members have nothing to say apart from “yes, really bad.” The way Brown uttered some junk from the safety of No10 while Cameron toured his triumphant seats. The way rebels like Salter say it’s their fault for not being so active. Labour just look and sound like a defeated party, like the fight has left them. And with zero leadership, no wonder.
P.S. I should add that I don’t for a minute believe the 1% figure. It just struck me as an example of how the delay in the Mayoral result is spawning daft rumours, and that some Shadow Cabinet members really do need to get to bed now.
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