The Prime Minister has much to chew over in the wake of a disastrous night for Labour which saw the party floundering in third place, with 24 per cent of the vote, after more than 400 councillors were defeated in the party's worst local election showing for decades.

Election night – and the painful hours that followed as the final results came in – wasn't just bad for an increasingly beleaguered Prime Minister. This wasn't just mid-term blues. The first judgment on the man who had waited so many long years for the premiership was worse than even the most pessimistic of Labour MPs had feared.

Losing so many councillors was bad enough. But a day of predictions of victory for Boris Johnson – the Eton toff, the joker who hadn't been given a prayer of becoming London Mayor a few short months ago – was like a dagger being driven through the heart.

Things are not yet as bad for Gordon Brown as the darkest days of the John Major years, but these results were strikingly similar to the destruction inflicted on the Tories back in 1995 – two years before Tony Blair swept into Downing Street – and the use of such analogies is getting more difficult to resist. Contrast the view from Downing Street with the scenes of unbridled joy at Conservative Central Office, champagne uncorked, laughter unconfined. It was, said David Cameron, a "very big moment" for the Tories. Others more brashly described it as their "Tony Blair moment".

With more than 240 extra councillors on the scorecard and control of key councils like Southampton, along with key northern battlegrounds like Bury and North Tyneside, there's no doubt this was a great night for Cameron's troops, exceeding genuine expectations.

The Liberal Democrats heralded successes in leader Nick Clegg's backyard in Sheffield, and in Hull, but while the party's top brass claimed a successful showing, the vote share of 25 per cent – one point below that achieved by "Ming" Campbell last year – took off some gloss.

But was this the result that assured Mr Cameron of the keys to 10 Downing Street?

Not quite. He needs the Tories to win the forthcoming Crewe and Nantwich by-election, and for the Government to capitulate over the detention of terror suspects, to retain his party's forward momentum.

There was Tory jubilation in the North where progress is vital if the Conservatives are to form the next government.

The fundraising has been cranked up several gears, the party machinery has been strengthened and a Conservative candidate was standing in every ward across Yorkshire. That is an advance in itself. And 23 seats gained – tempered by only two losses – provides further ground for optimism.

The scars of pit closures have made South Yorkshire a virtual Tory-free zone. So the numbers may not be large, but three seats gained in Rotherham was enough to prompt an "emotional moment" between Tory local government supremo Eric Pickles and William Hague, who grew up in the town. That the Tory performance would have been good enough to win them the Labour-held Rother Valley seat at the General Election speaks volumes. Single seat gains in Barnsley and Doncaster also provided a boost.

In West Yorkshire, eight gains in Wakefield – heavily targeted by the Tories with a view to a serious challenge at the General Election – and three in Bradford should concern Labour.

There was genuine progress elsewhere in the region too, but a lost seat in Leeds where the Tories must win parliamentary seats in and around the city – and in Sheffield where the party is now wiped off the electoral map – are both testimony to the fact that Yorkshire has not yet seen a wholesale conversion to Cameron.

Even Labour loyalists will not deny the anger felt towards their Government at the moment, but some disillusioned voters appeared to have turned to the British National Party instead of Mr Cameron.

The Tory leader was right to declare yesterday that he still had to prove to people his party can make the changes they want to see.

While rightly acknowledging their progress – the projected national share of 44 per cent of the vote was up on expectations and opens up a daunting 20-point gap with Labour – the Tories should beware of too much triumphalism, especially when these results surely make a General Election more likely in 2010 than next year. Remember too, these were local elections and some seats will have changed hands on local issues.

As one Yorkshire Labour MP, adopting an optimistic outlook, put it: "If a week is a long time in politics, then two years to the possible election date is an eternity."

Yesterday, Ministers queued up to tour television and radio studios to echo the Prime Minister's message – delivered from the safety of Downing Street – that they would listen to the verdict of voters increas-ingly fed up at rising fuel and food costs, worried about the economy, and angry that a party they thought cared about the poorest in society was ready to hit 5.3 million low earners where
it hurts.

Listening is all very well, but Mr Brown said he was listening in the months before his coronation as Labour leader. And as his chief lieutenant Ed Balls, the Normanton MP, admitted yesterday, listening isn't enough – people want action.

This weekend, Gordon Brown will be plotting how to kick start his leadership, which had started so promisingly last summer, while the muttering over his leadership will doubtless increase in volume. A change in leader would surely do little good now compared to the damage that it would inflict, but with the unease on his backbenches Mr Brown might well be advised to drop his determination to risk a humiliating Commons defeat over detaining terror suspects for 42 days without charge.

He will also need to convince his worried troops – and the angry public – that the victims of the 10p tax fiasco will be compensated and lessons have been learned. The draft Queen's Speech expected shortly gives a chance to convince people the administration still has ideas – and show people what the party stands for.

And there will be a hefty intake of breath over the coming months as we ride the economic rollercoaster which could ultimately take the Government's fate out of its own hands.

The game's not up yet – but it will take something dramatic to save the Brown premiership from disaster.

Jonathan Reed is the Yorkshire Post's political editor.