More worrying for Labour is that there is no clear route towards rebuilding an election winning coalition of support. Listen to the banalities from ministers today and you can see how they are struggling to cope with the tide that is sweeping over them "We will listen and lead" is the most common mantra. I doubt either that the ultra Blairites will have a more convincing prescription for success when they step forward to stir the pot at some point soon. Nor will a change of leader make any difference, and could make matters worse. There is no alternative leader with the titanic qualities required to win a fourth term. Anyway a second change of leader within a year would reinforce a sense of crisis. Look at what happened to the Tories as they played that game from 1997 onwards, moving from one unsuccessful leader to another.

Much more interesting is how David Cameron will make the most of the enhanced authority he will have as a result of these elections. Brilliantly he undermined Tony Blair by supporting him. Now he savages Gordon Brown by ruthlessly opposing him. The next challenge is to make his programme for government clearer and more coherent. That will not be easy and is the main reason why the next general election is not in the bag yet for the Tories. Still Cameron embarks on the most difficult phase of his leadership in a commanding position, making his party more willing to follow rather than cause trouble.

The Liberal Democrats did well enough to suggest that they will still be a force in the coming months, not wiped out in a battle between the two bigger parties. But Nick Clegg’s ambition to double the number of seats over the next two general elections looks absurdly optimistic.