Good Moaning

Daniel only had to face four lions when he was thrown into the den and had God on his side.

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I, as the guest of BBC Radio Cleveland spent the night with eight lefties transported into a studio - it was like a time warp. Not since the days of flares in the mid '70's had I heard such a load of left wing mantra masquerading as philosophical deep thought. My fellow guests included a vicar who amazingly resorted to the last refuge of the interlecually challenged; three times on air the Reverend 'Gentleman' responded to my comments as ''bollocks''.

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My night of as a guest panelist was certainly memorable, but it was not broadcasting as we know it. My critical comments off air to my host earned me, as I expected, a spiteful interview - the type of which the interviewer gets the last word simply because they are holding the 'mike' and can remove it and thus end the 'interview' without allowing the interviewee a responce to the last comment. As the dear blog reader will gather I was not impressed with my night in the BBC 'den'.

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Anyway as predicted Labour wins an historic third term in government - but with a drastically reduced majority, forecast by the BBC to be 66 (in 2001 it was 167). This is a somewhat larger overall majority than I forcast in my posting on Wednesday, but very much in keeping with the predicted trend.

The Conservatives are up 33. Notable gains include Putney from Labour and Newbury from the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives made a 3 % overall gain on Labour - more in the key marginals.

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The Liberal Democrats are up 11. They hold top Tory target Cheadle, which had previously been held with the country's smallest majority (33, now 4,020).

Tony Blair, speaking after being re-elected in Sedgefield with an 18,457 majority, says Labour will respond to the result "sensibly and wisely", and listen to people's concerns.

In Sedgefield, Reg Keys, the father of a military policeman killed in Iraq, records more than 10% of the vote, with 4,252.

Tory leader Michael Howard, speaking after being re-elected in Folkestone, says the time has come for Mr Blair to "deliver on the things that really matter to the people of our country".

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, re-elected in his Ross, Skye and Lochaber seat, heralds "the era of three-party politics".
Shadow education secretary Tim Collins loses his Westmorland and Lonsdale seat to the Liberal Democrats, but three other potentially vulnerable top Tories, Oliver Letwin, Theresa May and David Davis, hold on to theirs (Dorset West, Maidenhead, and Haltemprice and Howden).

Individual seats with massive swings include Manchester Withington, which had a 17.3% swing from Labour to Lib Dem, and Cambridge, which had a 15% swing from Labour to Lib Dem.

Several junior Labour ministers lose their seats to the Conservatives: Schools minister Stephen Twigg - who won Enfield Southgate from Tory Michael Portillo in 1997; Chris Leslie, constitutional affairs minister, in Shipley; junior health minister Melanie Johnson, in Welwyn Hatfield.

Turnout looks to be up slightly on the 2001 election, possibly because of postal voting - but postal votes are also prompting claims of foul play and there have been a number of recounts.

Respect's George Galloway takes Bethnal Green and Bow from Labour's Oona King, who previously had a majority of 10,057, with a majority of 829.

Robert Kilroy-Silk, the leader of new party, Veritas, fails to win Erewash from Labour, polling just under 3,000 - only 6% of the vote.
In Cardiff North (held by Labour), Catherine Taylor-Dawson of Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket wins just one vote - although she also stood in the three other Cardiff seats where she had more success (37 in Central, 79 in South, and 167 in West).

Labour loses three key marginal seats in Scotland - Western Isles and Dundee East to the SNP, and East Dunbartonshire to 25-year-old Lib Dem Jo Swinson, who becomes the youngest MP.
The SNP increases its number of seats from four to six.

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Plaid Cymru goes down from four seats to three.


The UK Independence Party fails to make a breakthrough in the election, howver gains ground from 2001.
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Former Conservative leader Baroness Margaret Thatcher tells ITN: "The figures are not looking good enough for the Conservatives. I'd have hoped the results would have looked better on the record of what we've done for the country."

After 474 declared results, there are scores of lost deposits. Among them the Greens have so far lost 129 at a cost of £64,500; the BNP 70, costing £35,000; Scottish Socialist Party 55 at a cost of £27,500, and UKIP 337 at a cost of £168,500.
Labour loses Blaenau Gwent, its safest Welsh seat and previously held by Aneurin Bevan and Michael Foot, to independent Peter Law (majority 9,121), who quit the Labour party in protest against the imposition of an all-women shortlist.
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Sunderland South wins the race to be first with its election result for a record fourth consecutive poll - Labour's Chris Mullin holds the seat.
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