The simplest way to understand who's won what at Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) is to point out that the Green Party now have three seats. One was taken by Jan Foster for Prestbury, (the ward now shared with Stan Smith of the People Against Bureaucracy), while a brace were claimed for St Pauls, with Tabi Joy and Ashleigh Olivia Davies winning through there.

And the rest? A sea of yellow from All Saints to Warden Hill now colours Cheltenham's political estate: of the 40 seats that were voted upon (ie the entire council) the Liberal Democrats find themselves with a thumping innings of 36 and a voting majority of 32.

For the town's MP and the government's Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk, the total wipeout of any blue from the map will be sobering: voted in by a majority of just 981 at the last election, the fact that all five of the Borough's existing Conservative wards were obliterated will not be reassuring given that parliamentary campaigns draw their energy from the morale of the infantry at constituency level.

Correspondingly, with the Liberal Democrats stengthening their hold on Cheltenham, the party's prospective parliamenetary candidate was quick to celebrate the significance of the poll. Before the votes were all in, Mr Wilkinson tweeted on X: "It's been a fantastic set of results for Cheltenham. Lib Dems appear to be on the cusp of wiping out the Conservatives. One set of results is left. Charlton Kings... It would be extraordinary."

Soon after his statement, Charlton Kings' three seats at the table were also Lib Dem victories.

In historical context - and perhaps consolation for Labour whose candidates garnered just 5% of the vote - this result is less remarkable: CBC has swung between Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and No Overall Control for several decades, while the Lib Dems have controlled the council since 2010.

But as a fun fact, this week's vote represents an increase of Green representation by 50% (albeit from a modest low starting point), while the People Against Bureacracy have seen their share influence halved.

Once the party subsides, the Lib Dems intray includes the future of Cavendish House, which contained House of Fraser up until earlier this month, Cheltenham's Minster Exchange project, which is running millions of pounds over budget, and the small matter of the ongoing Golden Valley plans to make the town the UK's cyber capital.