Were you up for Lembit?

So there was no castration of Balls but cheeky Lembit did meet his political maker. As did other heavyweights like Charles Clarke, Jacqui Smith and Mike O'Brien. But Labour held on strongly in a number of key marginals to prevent a Conservative majority.
It was an extraordinary night with some extraordinary results. With swings varying greatly across the country it was hard to predict any result.

The one thing you could predict was that each party would carefully control and manage the message. Within minutes of the exit poll Labour Ministers were checking their blackberries and repeating the mantra that this showed overwhelming support for electoral reform. The Lib Dems were disputing the polling figures while the Conservatives were calling it a rejection of the Labour Party.

But not all MPs could be kept on message. Ex-Labour Minister David Blunkett was the first to discard the official line in the early hours and call it a defeat for his party.

The question is will the public accept the lines being used by the respective parties? With over 600 seats now declared it is clear the Conservatives will become the largest party. The constitutional convention dictates the sitting Prime Minister, in the event of a hung parliament, has the first shot at forming a coalition. But can they come to an agreement with the Liberals? And will the public support such a partnership?

Those are the questions of the day. Let the horse trading begin!

Tony Cox Linstock Consultant
http://www.linstockcommunications.com/