Boris Johnson sighed in relief – then the message from UK local elections took hold

The Liberal Democrats and Labour enjoyed a surge in the polls that raised constitutional issues as well as weakening the PM

On Friday morning, as broadcasters, pollsters and political analysts tried to make sense of a mixed bag of early results from the previous day's local elections, no one was quite clear who had performed the best. All the party leaders seemed happy enough and the political messages were blurred.

Boris Johnson was said by people in Downing Street to be in a buoyant mood when he sat down at his desk at 8.15am, believing the heat was off him. He had told a meeting with his advisers the previous day that we are going to get our arses kicked". But while he could see his party had indeed taken a beating and was losing seats, it seemed that a Tory meltdown had been avoided, and that Labour was failing to win back support behind the red wall.