THE loss of Basildon to Labour and Tunbridge Wells to the Liberal Democrats last night means there is no longer such a thing as a Tory heartland anywhere in Britain.

And Conservative wipe-outs in places as far apart as Newcastle and Oxford, Oldham and Manchester, Wigan and Harlow mean there are plenty of Tory-free zones instead.

Last night's council election defeats means there are just 14 local authorities in Britain left in the hands of the government.

And just a few hundred Tory councillors instead of more than 8,000 four years ago.

Overall, the picture for John Major and his Cabinet is bleak.

But there was just enough good news last night to keep the vultures circling above Downing Street rather than descending upon its tenant.

The Tories lost 560 seats rather than the 800 in the Central Office melt-down scenario.

Their share of the vote actually rose very slightly.

They kept control of three of the four councils they ran which were up for election last night.

Macclesfield remains the only Tory-controlled council in the north of England.

Broxbourne in Hertfordshire remains Conservative despite the loss of three seats to Labour.

And in Huntingdon, the Prime Minister's constituency, John Major's undoubted personal charm helped the local Tories to buck the national trend by gaining two seats.

In Runnymead in Surrey the Tories lost overall control, and will have to rely on the casting vote of the Mayor.

But all this is cold comfort for a Tory Party riven by splits, unhappy at it's leadership, and without any proper base in local government to support its serried ranks of MPs and ministers.

Already last year's leadership challenger John Redwood is setting out his stall for the next contest.

The former Welsh Secretary has demanded immediate action on three issues.

He wants moves to reverse NHS cuts in beds whilst slashing spending on administration. He wants a tough new line on crime.

And most of all he wants a tough line on Europe.

Capitalising on Conservative anger over the way Brussels has pushed Britain around over Mad Cow disease and fishing quotas, Mr Redwood wants Britain to retaliate and to obstruct the business of the European Union.

He claims this may bring the Brussels bureaucrats to heel but in truth he wants to rally right wing Tory MPs to his cause.

There are growing signs of division in the Cabinet.

Michael Forsythe in Scotland and Michael Portillo at defence are flying the Euro sceptic flag as publicly as the Scottish Secretary refuses to fly the European one.

Chancellor Kenneth Clarke is doggedly sticking to his support of the European Single Currency despite the opposition of almost everyone else in the Tory Party.

Depute Prime Minister, Michael Heseltine, has made clear his disgust at the failure of John Major to retaliate over the Mad Cow beef export ban.

And even the normally restrained Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, is furious at the way Mr Major's U-turn on the issue left him red-faced and out on a limb in Brussels.

And it was emerging today that even Tory Chairman, Brian Mawhinney - loyally dispatched to pick up the pieces - is unhappy at the Prime Minister's lack of strategy and leadership.

But despite the dissatisfaction, the scale of last night's defeat is not enough to force Mr Major to resign.

In the coming weeks, however, his rivals will be biding their time in the hope that he may quit out of exhaustion or find himself being pushed out of Downing Street.

However, the trouble for the Tories now runs deeper than the question of who leads them and how he does it.

As well as a divided high command, they lack the infantry they need.

The loss of so many councillors means that the battalions of willing workers they need to mount a successful election campaign has been decimated.

They look increasingly like an army composed of squabbling officers without any NCOs or foot soldiers to actually man the front line.

And whether John Major survives to fight the election or not, that is not a good recipe for reversing last night's defeats with a spectacular victory and return to government.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.