May 1 was the day for local council elections in Britain. With about 11,000 local seats contested, the Tories appear to be gaining about 300 seats–a respectable gain, but mainly a regression to the mean, following a Tory wipeout two elections ago. The Tories remain mired in a debate over what they really stand for, and are having difficulty fully exploiting Labor’s failure to deliver on its long-standing promises to improve the quality of education, health care, and police protection.