Bloody nose for Blair in poll vote

A night of election mayhem left Tony Blair with a bloody nose in London today - and scored two north of England gains for the far-Right British National Party.

Labour lost four boroughs in the capital in an ominous sign that the party could be beginning to pay the penalty for soaring street crime and run-down transport and other services.

However, in the town hall elections nationwide, Labour broadly held on and the Conservatives, despite some local successes, failed to make a breakthrough to boost the leadership of Iain Duncan Smith.

The BNP saw two councillors elected in Burnley, their first representatives since they briefly held one seat in Millwall in 1993. A recount was underway in a third ward in the town.

However, the party failed to make inroads in their other prime target, Oldham, and in their handful of targets in London their support ranged from 10 per cent at best down to a derisory two per cent.

By 7am this morning with almost all the results in from 174 councils in contention, Labour had lost 13 authorities, but gained four. The Conservatives had gained 16 but lost six. And the Liberal Democrats had captured half-a-dozen but lost four.

A higher than expected turnout of 35 per cent saw Tory and Labour support neck and neck at 34 and 33 per cent, with the Liberal Democrats not far behind at 27 per cent.

Shadow chancellor Michael Howard conceded that his party still had far to go to be realistic challengers at the next general election.

He pointed out that Mr Duncan Smith, facing his first election test as leader, had been in charge for little more than seven months. And he went on: "Of course we have got a long march. We know that and we are running our strategy on that basis."

The Conservatives began to make a comeback in the key battleground of the London suburbs - above all in Enfield, in a contest dubbed Portillo's Revenge. In the territory where the then Tory defence secretary gave Labour its biggest coup of the 1997 General Election, the Conservatives today were back in control after eight years of Labour rule.

The Tories also captured Richmond-on-Thames from the Liberal Democrats, and Barnet and Redbridge, which had been under no overall control. Labour casualties included Waltham Forest, Harrow, and Lambeth. But the party held on in Croydon, where Mr Blair had launched Labour's local campaign and which had been a prime Tory target. They also gained the borough of Bexley.

Further afield, the Conservatives proved unable to capture their target authorities of Birmingham, Basildon, and Bradford, where Mr Duncan Smith had campaigned. And they lost two of their traditional heartland councils, Worthing and Eastbourne to the Lib-Dems.

The only clear truth was that Mr Blair, Mr Duncan Smith and the Liberal Democrats' Charles Kennedy still have all to play for before the next election.

Perhaps the biggest setback for the Government was the collapse into farce of the attempt to bring in directly elected mayors to back up the example of Ken Livingstone. To the consternation of ministers, the contest in Peter Mandelson's home base of Hartlepool, was won by an independent "monkey" candidate.