Now Brexit brings a bitter Tory reckoning at the polls | William Keegan

The Conservatives have much to be ashamed of after 13 years. But the surge in Lib Dem support shows Europe still matters

When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state." Euripides was not of course referring to Brexit in his play Orestes, but to the chaos caused by Clytemnestra's murder of Agamemnon and Orestes's dispatch, in turn, of Clytemnestra.

The disastrous outcome for the Conservatives in the local elections may not lead to any physical violence, but all the signs are, as the recriminations begin, that the Tories are in for a metaphorical bloodbath.