The Prime Minister and his allies are on the defensive after the Conservatives lost hundreds of local council seats and the prestigious West Midlands mayoralty to Labour.
After a calamitous set of local elections the Prime Minister and his allies were pinning their hopes on an analysis suggesting that there could be a hung parliament.
Earlier today, the Prime Minister suffered the indignity of seeing of seeing a Labour mayor win in his own constituency as the party hemorrhaged councils and seats.