Tory leader summons the winds of change
The Tories now hold a massive majority at the authority, controlling 49 of the 62 seats across the county, with the two largest opposition parties holding just four seats each.
Labour, which had 32 councillors before Thursday's elections, now holds three seats, all in the south and east of the county.
Philip Atkins, the new Conservative leader of the county council, said he was astonished by his party's overwhelming success.
The councillor for Uttoxeter Rural said: "At first I was pleased, then I was amazed, and now I feel great.
"There's been a lot of hard work gone into the election. For the first time, all the local Conservative associations have come together with one leaflet and manifesto.
"Then, when the MPs' expenses scandal broke, I told our candidates to go out on to the streets and talk to people, explain this is a local election, to talk about council tax, schools, elderly care homes.
"We live in the community we represent, eye to eye with the people we represent.
"People are disgusted with politicians and have tarred us all with the same brush, which is not right."
Mr Atkins said the new Conservative leadership had three main aims.
He said: "We will lower council tax and carry out a review of all council services to make them better and get the best value for money.
"We will fix things like we pledged to, such as spending £30 million to repair the roads.
"And there will be fundamental change in the way we operate. There has been too much of a box-ticking culture, rather than accountability."
Former Labour county council leader John Taylor, who lost his own seat in Kidsgrove and Talke, refused to accept that the Labour electoral meltdown in Staffordshire was a result of his administration's policies. He instead chose to blame the furore surrounding MPs' expenses, and voters' general disillusionment with the national Labour Government.
Mr Taylor said: "This defeat is about the MPs and the tragic situation regarding their expenses.
"It's unfortunate that all our hard-working councillors have lost because of that.
"It's also annoying that it seems that only one political party has paid the price, when MPs across the political spectrum at Westminster have been abusing the system and claming expenses which they shouldn't have done.
"I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who did vote for us. We are not going to go away.
"We will continue to look out for the people we have been representing for a long time and we will try to ensure things do not get a lot worse."
One of the major county council issues of the last few years has been the authority's decision to close all but seven of its elderly care homes, under the Changing Lives programme.
While the aim was to create a care service fit for the 21st century, the scheme proved highly controversial, and left many people angry at the Labour administration.
Mr Taylor was unapologetic for making "hard decisions" such as this, and insisted the last four years had been successful for the county council.
He added: "Certainly over the last four years we have been driving onwards and upwards. We have achieved three star status from the Audit Commission, as well as the recognition that we are driving forwards towards excellence.
"We have made £50 million in savings over the last two years, which we have been able to reinvest into improving services."
Liberal Democrat leader Christina Jebb retained her seat for Biddulph South and Endon, as her party doubled its stake on the county council from two seats to four.
Mrs Jebb, who lives in Endon, said: "I'm delighted. It has changed our position and we are now a major opposition group. It means we will be able to achieve even more than in the past.
"Overall, it is a sea change. I think the bad side of having such a huge ruling group is it is going to be difficult for them to manage.
"We will have to be careful. We want to see that the Conservatives deliver on promises, such as for a young persons' bus pass.
"I will be watching very closely. I will want to know what they will do for schools in the future.
"I have been a county councillor for 20 years, this is my sixth election. It has been more of a challenge this time. People have lost trust in politicians.
"But people have been so supportive. They like what the Lib Dems do. We always try to listen."
The UK Independence Party also now holds four seats on the council, with an independent and a member of Staffordshire Independent Group holding one each.
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TENSION: Above, Labour's Maureen Compton, who lost her Stafford seat, watches as the votes are counted. Right, UKIP's Steve Povey, who won in Leek South.
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