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THE WINNER: New London Mayor Boris Johnson out fopr an early-morning run yesterday

GORDON BROWN was warned last night that he was steering Labour towards a catastrophic General Election defeat after its May Day mauling in town halls across the country.

Shocked Labour MPs, including several in the region, demanded that the Prime Minister switch direction to win back core voters after the party's worst local elections drubbing since the Sixties.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives - celebrating gains from North Tyneside to Southampton - pointed to a "Tony Blair moment", when voters finally signalled they were ready to put David Cameron in No 10.

A delighted William Hague, North Yorkshire's Richmond MP and Shadow Foreign Secretary, even made the once-unthinkable claim: "Who, now, is really the party of the North?"

Even worse for Labour, it was looking late last night that Boris Johnson had defeated Ken Livingstone in the race to be London's Mayor - delivering the biggest Tory ballot-box success since the 1992 election.

In County Durham, Labour clung to power, finishing a bruising night with a majority of only eight on the new unitary county council, as the Liberal Democrats, independents and Conservatives all encroached significantly into its heartland.

Labour finished on 67 seats, the Lib Dems on 27, ahead of the independents on 22 and the Conservatives on ten.

In Downing Street, a pale and tired-looking Mr Brown had little choice but to acknowledge "a disappointing night, indeed a bad night, for Labour".

Several North-East MPs urged the Prime Minister to recognise that Labour's woes ran much deeper than "difficult economic circumstances" that could be blamed on a global downturn.

Helen Goodman, Bishop Auckland MP and deputy Commons leader, said: "We need to learn the lesson that it is unacceptable to have policies like the 10p tax rate coming from a Labour government.

"If you don't get the policies right, it doesn't matter if you have the best presentation in the world. But public opinion is volatile, which means we can bounce back."

That message was echoed by Durham City MP Roberta Blackman- Woods, who said: "The 10p tax row hit us really hard, because people expect Labour to be about social justice and looking after vulnerable people in society.

"That's the feedback I will be giving the Prime Minister. If we don't get the polices right on both the economy and social justice, then we are not going to recover."

Frank Cook, Stockton North MP, pinpointed what many believe is the heart of Labour's problems by saying: "We have to accept that Gordon Brown's footwork is not like Fred Astaire's, like Tony Blair's was."

The comments followed Labour's humiliation after being shoved into third place behind the Lib Dems in Thursday's elections, with an estimated 24 per cent of the vote.

The party suffered a net loss of more than 300 council seats and lost control of town halls from Hartlepool to Merthyr Tydfil.

The Conservatives were the undisputed victors, scoring 44 per cent of the vote - the Lib Dems won 25 per cent - and winning councils as far north as Bury, Rossendale and North Tyneside.

To the Tories' delight, the party gained support equally in the North and South, gaining 250- plus councillors.

7:49am Saturday 3rd May 2008

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