DAN HODGES: The Tory base is not imploding. It s just slowly and inexorably ebbing away. Men - and women - who once voted Conservative on muscle-memory have had enough.
Deputy prime minister says voters view local elections and general elections as "wholly different", but admits he has "tough fight" to keep his own seat.
DAN HODGES: In 2015, Ukip came within 300 votes of beating Labour into third place in Old Bexley and Sidcup. And with Sir Keir flatlining, disaffected Tories really have only one place to go.
Boris Johnson will be forced to confront some difficult political choices as he assesses the Tory drubbing in Chesham and Amersham.
The Liberal Democrats claim the result has sent a “shockwave through British politics” by showing that seats in the “Blue Wall” of Tory seats in southern England are vulnerable.
The warning signs were there in the local elections in May – although Conservative eyes may instead have been tempted to look north, where further inroads were being made into previously safe Labour territory.
The party lost councillors in places including Tunbridge Wells, Surrey and Oxfordshire, as well as the West of England mayoralty.