The Conservative Party has just won a county council seat it had previously held since its creation 20 years ago. The winning Tory candidate is the very same one first elected to the seat in 2005.

It is an election result you would think barely worthy of mention. Yet in the current political climate, it is one that has caused much Conservative fist-pumping as the party begins to believe reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated.

The result from the Newark West by-election came in during the early hours of Friday (July 4) after a tense recount. The late-night euphoria was probably a symptom of relief that everyone could go to bed and that for the Tories, the last few weeks of sweaty door-knocking had not been in vain.

When most journalists of a certain age now write about elections, it is impossible not to hear the immortal words of Brenda from Bristol, who exclaimed in 2017: "Not another one." People in Nottinghamshire might well be feeling the same, so why was this Newark election held in the first place?

May 1 saw the main Nottinghamshire County Council election to choose who would fill 64 seats on the authority. The election saw Reform UK triumph, with

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