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Gordon Brown admitted that it had been a "disappointing" night for Labour after the party suffered its worst election results for four decades in what was his first proper electoral test as Prime Minister.

With results still coming in from elections around England and Wales, Labour’s projected national vote share was put at just 24 per cent, trailing 20 points behind David Cameron’s Conservatives on 44 per cent, and even behind the Liberal Democrats on 25 per cent.

The margin was similar to the drubbing received by John Major in council elections in 1995, two years before he was ejected from Downing Street by Tony Blair. Latest analysis suggests that the Tories would enjoy a landslide Commons majority of between 138 and 164 seats if the results were repeated in a general election.

Expert View

Mr Brown is clinging to the hope that Mr Livingstone may yet scrape home to spoil the Tory party. Tory insiders think he will not

Francis Elliott

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Gordon Brown's Black Wednesday

The Northern Rock disaster has torn away any remaining credibility the Prime Minister had

BACKGROUND

• Sorry story tests Gordon to the limit

• Gordon, how wonderful, wise and talented am I?

• Brown’s brain and his hand are not always connected

• How 'cruel' schooling scarred Brown

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Multimedia

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• Red Box blog: how the night unfolded

• Pictures: new Mayor

Among its other successes, the Tories planted their flag in Labour’s northern heartlands by seizing control of Bury and made a surprise gain in Southampton - one of the few Southern cities where Labour still has MPs.

Mr Brown admitted it had been a "bad" night for Labour, and said he felt "sad" that so many Labour councillors had lost their seats.

However, he appeared to reject calls for a major change of direction and said that he would show the necessary "courage and conviction" to overcome the current troubles. Analysts believe the Prime Minister has ruled out any Cabinet reshuffle on the back of the results, and was determined to show he was a politician of conviction.

"It is clear to me that this has been a disappointing night and a bad night for Labour. My job is to listen and to lead and that is what I will do," he told a Downing Street press conference with Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister.

Mr Brown said he would "listen and lead" as Prime Minister, but added: "The test of leadership is not what happens in a period of success but what happens in difficult circumstances. The challenge of leadership is to take the country through difficult times as well as good times."

In a series of interviews today, Mr Cameron vowed that the Conservatives would not be complacent, despite their victory, and would make their own case for government, not simply based on Labour's problems.

"I think these results are not just a vote against Gordon Brown and his Government. I think they are a vote of positive confidence in the Conservative Party," he told reporters as he left his west London home.

"I think this is a very big moment for the Conservative Party, but I don’t want anyone to think that we would deserve to win an election just on the back of a failing Government.

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