We are heading into perhaps the most consequential local election in recent memory.

Forecasters are expecting big gains for reform in the Lib Dems and a bad showing for Labour and the Tories.

Could we be looking at the end of the two-party system?

To make sense of what comes next, please do come along to our local elections shake-up event.

Join the spectators panel and special guests Sir Jacob Reesmog and Zia Yusuf as they

analyse the results on the 7th of May at the Emanuel Centre in Westminster. For tickets, go to

www.combe.combe.combe-forward slash local elections live. Hello and welcome to coffeehouse shots. I'm James Seal. I'm delighted to be joined today by Michael Gove, the editor of The Spectator. Now, Michael, it's kind of a strange sort of local elections tomorrow we're expecting. The two big parties certainly are sort of almost singing from the same hymn sheet, which is that they're both saying these election night results are going to be very bad, midterm blues, etc. They're going to be saying similar lines. We decided to do a podcast

today talking about how you spin a difficult media round because they'll be out tomorrow.

And imagine, I'm not going to put better on it, but I wonder perhaps, you know, Pat McFadden or

we're streeting. Some of the more adept spinners will be out left for the government and perhaps the same for the Conservatives tomorrow. Do you ever do media round after one? Oh yes,

countless. And normally it would be the case that party headquarters will prepare a sort of

variety of different scenarios. So you'll have a draft script if things exceed expectations,

if things are broadly in line with expectations, or if they're worse. And again,

the basic formula is you offer a qualified but apparently sincere acknowledgement that things

haven't gone quite as well as they might have done. And then you find reasons or justifications for that,

which attempt to move on from the central charge that you are rubbish and you know you are.

And you also famously try to find some spot of light, some aspect of the election result,

which you argue hasn't received enough scrutiny, but actually shows that

the analysis of your critics is wrong and things are actually more propitious than the media

commentary would have people believe. And of course, the most famous example of that probably being

with these local elections was Ken Baker, 1990, went out after a pretty dreadful set of election

results for the Tories and went,

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