Labour sources are saying the London mayoral election is closer than people thought - as Tories even appear to start eyeing a possible upset.
Labour's Sadiq Khan was widely expected to romp home to a second term by a wide margin when final results come on Saturday night, after polls put him way ahead of Tory Shaun Bailey.
But a Labour source today told the Mirror the London race was "definitely closer than people were thinking."
The source insisted that, despite polls putting Mr Khan comfortably ahead, "we always said it would be a close election".
Under London's election rules, the top two candidates in the first round will then go through to a second round, and pick up any second-preference votes from people who voted for smaller parties.
Mr Khan's team still appeared to believe he's likely to triumph on second preferences, however.
The source said: "There is no question we are seeing significant impact from turnout and voters believing they could put a smaller party first preference without influencing the election result.
"There are still half of London boroughs to count and it’s too early to say anything with any certainty at this stage."
And Pollster Chris Curtis, of Opinium, tweeted on Friday night: "If Shaun Bailey gets elected Mayor of London I will run around City Hall naked."
A YouGov poll this week had tipped Mr Khan to win 43% in the first round and Mr Bailey 31% - narrowing the gap between the pair by five points.
However, YouGov had said an upset looked unlikely as in the second round, Mr Khan would triumph with 59% compared to Mr Bailey's 41%.
As of 5.30pm on Friday, Mr Khan had around 39% of the first-round votes counted compared to Mr Bailey's 37% - although that included earlier-declaring, Tory-voting outer boroughs in the capital so is not a reliable tally.
The Times reported tonight that Mr Bailey's campaign believed he could actually win the London mayoralty.
Another source close to the Tory appeared less optimistic, though, telling the Guido Fawkes blog: "It’s closer than everyone thinks. Still a long way to go though, but Shaun will have beaten the polls by a fair whack."
The speculation comes despite a string of gaffes by Mr Bailey, including claiming people would spend a Universal Basic Income on "lots of drugs".
It comes after Keir Starmer said he would do whatever it takes to rebuild after a "bitterly disappointing" defeat in the Hartlepool by-election.
Tory Jill Mortimer snatched the seat from Labour with a majority of nearly 7,000 votes in a stunning victory for Boris Johnson.
And there was further misery for the party in the local elections as Labour lost control of Harlow, Rossendale and Sheffield councils - and failed to make any major gains as the first results came in.
The result sparked immediate recriminations, with Labour's left wing piling in to criticise Mr Starmer's leadership.
In a terse statement, he said: "I'm bitterly disappointed in the result and I take full responsibility for the results - and I will take full responsibility for fixing this.
"We have changed as a party but we haven't set out a strong enough case to the country.
"Very often we have been talking to ourselves instead of to the country and we have lost the trust of working people, particularly in places like Hartlepool.
"I intend to do whatever is necessary to fix that."
He said Labour needs to stop "quarrelling among ourselves" and move beyond factional disputes - insisting it was "not a question of left or right".
"It is a question of whether we are facing the country," he told broadcasters.
"We have changed as a party but we've not made a strong enough case to the country, we've lost that connection, that trust, and I intend to rebuild that and do whatever is necessary to rebuild that trust."
