It is a thankless morning for Tories on the media round. Faced with the loss of half of their council seats, ministers are resorting to the time-honoured tactic of talking up favourable results as offering useful national lessons. This trick was pioneered by Kenneth Baker, who as Mrs Thatcher’s party chair successfully sold the post-Poll Tax elections of 1990 as a good night, based on the exceptional results of Westminster and Wandsworth. This time, Harlow is CCHQ’s favourite local council, with the Tories winning 17 of the available 33 seats........

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