Nige is on full gloat, while Keir clings on with a hunted look in his eyes | John Crace

Local elections appear to signal end of two-party politics with five parties in the game in England

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It all panned out pretty much as everyone had expected. Nigel Farage was insufferably pleased with himself. Keir Starmer looked hunted while insisting he was going to remain prime minister for ever. Longer possibly. Kemi Badenoch grinned wildly, saying the Tories were back in the game as they slumped to insignificance everywhere but the south-east. Ed Davey became supreme leader of the People’s Republic of Richmond upon Thames where the Lib Dems won all 54 seats. Zack Polanski chose not to make an appearance before lunchtime. And Huw Irranca-Davies, Labour’s erstwhile deputy first minister in Wales, conceded defeat before a vote had been counted. Business as usual.

Except it wasn’t. These were the local elections that appeared to signal the end of two-party politics. There were now five parties in the game in England. That’s before we had got to Plaid Cymru in Wales and the SNP in Scotland. And by the end of the night, Labour and the Conservatives were lying in ruins. Their only consolation being that their losses weren’t even worse. If their election campaigns had taught them anything, it was how to manage expectations.