Local elections 2023: Conservative sniping starts over losses

With more than half the results in England's local elections still to come, it's already clear the Conservatives are doing worse than they feared.

The party has lost control of more than a dozen councils, as Labour and the Lib Dems eat into their support in key battlegrounds.

The recriminations, even infighting, are already under way within the Conservative Party.

Ever since results starting dropping overnight, so many Conservatives have been out and about offering their view as to what is to blame.

Plenty loyal to the government have put the boot in, some less gently than others, to Rishi Sunak's predecessors at Number 10, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Well, my phone just rang - and have a read of what a figure loyal to Mr Johnson and Ms Truss said to me: "Rishi has no option but to own these results.

"He has been chancellor or prime minister for virtually all of the last three years and it was he and his supporters who forced Boris and then Liz out of office in order to install him in Downing Street.

"The old saying goes that 'it is the economy, stupid' that defines the choice voters have at the ballot box.

"He [Mr Sunak] was the chancellor who had presided over the stagnation of the British economy and hiked taxes to their highest level in 70 years while failing to seize any of the advantages of leaving the European Union.

"It is little wonder so many previous Conservative voters failed to back us yesterday."

It is a reminder of how - under the surface - the wounds are still raw in the Tory Party and searching questions are being asked by senior figures about its direction.

But there is an important caveat to insert here.

Even those deeply disillusioned with Rishi Sunak, even frustrated with what they see as a lack of true Conservative instinct for much of the Conservatives' period in office since 2010, acknowledge there is no appetite to move against the prime minister.

The Tory Party has had enough of insurrection, civil war and utter chaos for now and there's an acceptance Rishi Sunak will lead the party into the next general election.

But anger, irritation and a fear of imminent defeat can coagulate in ways individuals often can't control. The prime minister's capacity, so far, to put a lid on the boiling cauldron of Conservative anger may just have weakened after yesterday.

And his critics are re-finding their voices.