LONDON - The governing Labour Party's worst local poll results in 40 years could be a turning point in British politics but Prime Minister Gordon Brown still has a chance to recover, newspapers said Saturday.

Labour limped in third behind the main opposition Conservative Party and smaller Liberal Democrats in municipal council elections in England and Wales, and lost control of the biggest political prize -- the London mayoralty.

The results prompted a fresh wave of negative headlines for Brown, who has been fighting criticism of his government's recent economic record, botched tax reforms, the rising cost of living and his personal style.

"The May Day Massacre," said The Independent while The Guardian lamented "Brown's Long, Bloody Friday" and the Daily Express said simply: "Brown and Out."

In an editorial, The Times sensed a shift in the political landscape, just 10 months after Brown took over from Tony Blair and ahead of a general election due some time in the next two years.

"If Gordon Brown is eventually defeated in his bid to take Labour to a fourth term, then this is the moment that historians will determine marked the beginning of the end of his spell as prime minister," it said.

Local government specialist Tony Travers, from the London School of Economics, drew parallels with Blair's success in wooing Tory voters in the years before the 1997 general election, which Labour won by a landslide.

"Taking England and Wales as a whole, it is clear the suburbs deserted Brown," he wrote in The Guardian. "Perhaps this is the real fallout from the removal of his predecessor: Tony Blair's Conservatives have gone home."

All newspapers agreed that the results -- which saw the Conservatives win a projected 44 percent of the national equivalent vote, according to the BBC -- suggested the Tories were once again a political force.

Last September, the centre-right party -- in opposition since 1997 -- were 11 points behind Labour in the opinion polls and seemingly destined for defeat at the early general election Brown was widely expected to call but did not.

The Sun tabloid said Friday's results were "good for the country because it means we have a serious Opposition again", although many, like the FT, said Cameron needed to come up with detailed, costed plans to back up his promises.

The Independent said Tory leader David Cameron "had made the Conservatives acceptable again, including among younger voters -- which is no mean feat".

But there was some comfort for Brown. Many assessed the situation was not terminal, although long-term rebuilding would still be an uphill battle as Cameron had the momentum.

"He has already promised to 'learn the lessons'," the right-of-centre Daily Mail said.

"If he now gives a clear lead and concentrates on steering Britain through its economic difficulties he has -- arguably -- time to recover before the next election."

"Mr Brown must escape the isolation that has detached him from the nation," said the left-leaning Guardian. "As things stand, he is in great danger of becoming the least successful Labour prime minister ever."

phz/ach

05/03/2008 02:54 GMT