Moment of the night?

[Maranello]

As a die-hard elections buff and amateur psephologist, I obviously spent all of last night following the results on BBC (Paxman was atrocious), ITV (serious, grown-up commentary, surprisingly) and Sky (first with most of the news). I know OF was following the results glued to his PC, but surely we are not the only two that sad on here?

In true Andrew Neill style, I will now do my moment of the night: Galloway winning Bethnal Green & Bow at around 04:40am from Oona King, with a near 40% swing, and probably the most interesting acceptance speech of them all. Love him or loathe him, this guy, alongwith Hague and Cook, is one of the best natural orators in the Commons.

What was everyone else's moment of the night?


PS: For those not in the UK, here's a link to the Galloway story.

[Andy Mellon]

My moment of the night? The independant Labour candidate winning the 3rd safest Labour seat with a swing of 49%. Not only was this due to local issues but also a blow to all women shortlists. The reason I can't stand all women shortlists is that they suggest that women aren't good enough to win the candidacy off their own back; and thus are inherently patronising to women and the fact that they often have to get women in from outside the constituency (as in this seat) can be a real blow to locals. Hence, I was very glad to see this policy getting a beating. Hopefully, the day will come when all women shortlists are not used and we see a fair balance of sexes and people based purely on ability to be MPs.

The other highpoint was the look on Kilroy's face when he found out he'd almost lost his deposit. Glorious

Low points of the night? Nick Griffin (BNP) polling over 4,000 votes. Also, the lack of surprises in the South outside of London. Only Newbury changed hands in my region. Pretty dull.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

Low points of the night? Nick Griffin (BNP) polling over 4,000 votes.

That, and BNP getting 16% of the vote in Barking etc.

You are right, it was dull, but not as dull as 2001! Enfield Southgate was an interesting one, where Stephen Twigg lost; fortuitously, Portillo was in the ITV studio to offer his "personal" perspective!

Agree with you about all-women shortlists, and a good thing Lib Dems and the Tories have not gone for them.

[Milo]

The high point was seeing that the BBC/ITV exit poll predicted a 66 labour majority so that I could go straight off to bed pretty early. The first two hours, when the only point of interest was whether Sunderland South would get into the Guinness Book of Records was painful. Completely pointless debate concentrating on individual irrelevant constituencies before they all came in without a mention or any interest.

The further high point was that when I got up to feed my baby at 4 in the morning, I noticed that the exit poll was indeed correct and that I hadn't missed anything remotely exciting.

This election mirrored the Ashes for me. Maybe the next one might have something worth sitting up all night for.

[Andy Mellon]

You're right Maranello. One of the interesting trends from this election is the narrowing of the political spectrum showing that smaller parties have significantly more influence. The rise of independents winning councils on local issues is a good one. This means that no seat is impregnable and you cannot assume your seat is safe. The wins in Wyke Valley and the decent pollings for that anti war chap in Sedgefield were the good side of this, but as you say the BNP polled significant amounts.

It would have been good to see a few more faces lose their seat. I was hoping that Charles Clarke might be removed in Norwich. I think that its quite clear that the main labour leaders have very, very safe seats Blair, Brown, Prescott, Straw, Blunkett, Milburn etc. were never at any risk of losing their seats - a big contrast to some leading tories. It would have been interesting to see how the campaign would have turned out if the labour hierarchy would have had to spend any amount of time in their own consitituency (excluding Straw who does spend a lot of time up there)

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Probably Jon Culshaw doing a great impression of GWB on the beeb. Sat up till 3.20 am (and I'm now buggered), hoping for something interesting to happen, or useful ie Howard resigning and giving it to someone who might be able to galvanise the population, lay out some policies rather talk in a funny voice and slag off immigrants and the other parties.

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Maranello

That, and BNP getting 16% of the vote in Barking etc.

You are right, it was dull, but not as dull as 2001! Enfield Southgate was an interesting one, where Stephen Twigg lost; fortuitously, Portillo was in the ITV studio to offer his "personal" perspective!

I was a bit sad for Stephen Twigg - an MP who, by all accounts has done a good job as an MP, who was a victim of Tony Blair's mistakes rather than his own. he's still a youngster in politcal terms, and I'm sure he'll be back. It remains one of my favorite moments of t.v, when that shy looking fellow with a cute smile and name beat the man who was supposed to be the new Tory leader - it was great stuff!!

My favorite moment of the night was watching Michael Howard give his speech after winning his seat with the guy from the Monster Raving Looney Party stood behind him wearing a big hat and silly outfit - I love that about our elections, the fact that they allow pretty much anyone to run, even if they are odd balls!!

That said, the BNP annoy me no end. Well, actually it's the fools who vote for them, I suppose. No matter how annoyed people might be about issues surronding asylem and so on, there is no reason to vote for an openly racist party like the BNP. It's very sad.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Probably Jon Culshaw doing a great impression of GWB on the beeb.

LOL RBLC, yes I remember that one, one of the very few interesting things to happen early on! I was awake till around 5am, and it was all done and dusted by then...

In terms of another Tory leader, who would be up to the job though?

Kirsty, you are right, one has to feel for people like Twigg. I remember 1997 well; it was a great dramatic moment, but Portillo's speech was truly impressive; very gracious in defeat, now that's the mark of a true gentleman (and a true Englishman too, perhaps?).

[King Aragorn]

Stunning win by Galloway. Most unexpected but wow, what a huge swing. Loved that.

The low was seeing Jack Straw win by quite a big margin. He didn't lose many votes now, did he?

By the way, BBC is reporting that Howard will step down before the next elections. It isn't mere speculation now.

[Kirsty Harris]

Originally Posted by Maranello

Kirsty, you are right, one has to feel for people like Twigg. I remember 1997 well; it was a great dramatic moment, but Portillo's speech was truly impressive; very gracious in defeat, now that's the mark of a true gentleman (and a true Englishman too, perhaps?).

Yes, I agree there. In some ways, it was a bit of a turning point for Portillo, in terms of the publics view of him - he emerged with credit and dignity, and didn't come accross as bitter at all. Inspite of all the ups and downs he has had, I have a bit of respect for him, where as before I thought he was just an arrogent ******!