In marginal Croydon, a group of weary Conservative activists were trying to drum up voters in the London council elections in the dying hours of polling day when they bumped into a group of Labour campaigners, who said: “We’ve sent our thank-you letters to Boris.”
On the other side of the capital, a few hours later, as the counting got under way, a Labour candidate in a no-hope area was woken in the middle of the night and sped urgently to the count in a taxi when unexpected victory loomed.
