[Politics] Laura Kuenssberg: After local election upheaval, what's next for the parties?

[BirSaNN]

Swap the velvet cloaks, jewels, implausibly well-behaved choirboys and animals for ballot boxes, soggy rosettes, clipboards and leisure centres. We are watching one transfer of power on Saturday. Election results around England this week suggest one of a different kind is well under way.

The Conservatives got a kicking, Labour made good progress and Ed Davey's tractor got the Lib Dems' wheels turning again (sorry). So what's next?

When the gap in the opinion polls between the Tories and Labour had been tightening in recent weeks, some Conservatives had been wondering aloud whether the prospects for them were not as disastrous as they'd feared. Real votes have put a dampener on that.

It does not seem likely, though, that MPs are going to start howling in pain publicly, or suggesting a change at the top, despite a few noises from predictable quarters. One former minister says they are all "tired and fed up, but if you put your head above the parapet and moan, you just make it worse".

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The atmosphere in the party may then seem - outwardly, at least - quite calm. After the last few years, an unhappy peace is a political achievement of sorts, but don't mistake it for satisfaction with the leadership.

The former minister, not a regular critic of Mr Sunak, says it's one of "resigned depression". So what might the PM do to cheer it all up?

Expect relentless focus on - you guessed it - the five promises he made. Perhaps, one source suggests, there may be a reshuffle before the summer to line up the team for a future general election before the party conference in the autumn.

link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65500690