There is no spin or expectation management that can hide the fact this was a disastrous night for the Tories in London. The party lost control not only of Barnet but also its flagship councils of Westminster and Wandsworth, which it had held for decades. Many of their candidates branded themselves as local Conservatives to distance themselves from Downing Street. It made little difference.
Areas such as Wandsworth have been trending Labour for years, and the party now holds all three of its seats in Parliament — but it remains hugely symbolic. So too is the victory in Barnet, where Sir Keir Starmer sought to demonstrate that he had clawed his party back from the one led by Jeremy Corbyn which was found by the EHRC to have breached equality law over its handling of anti-Semitism.
