Brown And Cameron Retain Their Seats

It seems as if the Lib-Dem surge might have crashed - or certainly failed to translate into nearly as many seats as some had expected. The swing does not appear to be uniform at all - with individual seats being far more unpredictable than usual. The Tories do look like being easily the biggest party - but the impact of marginal seats has yet to be calculated.

While we wait, it's worth noting one lovely ritual of election night in Britain. Even the party leaders have to stand on a stage with the other candidates vying for their seat and listen to the results. They are just members of parliament at this point. They are not heads of state - or even really "prime minister", which is a convention in British politics rather than part of a Constitution set in stone. They are one of several candidates. So the first candidate to congratulate David Cameron was his rival from the Monster Raving Loony Party. Here's Gordon Brown's speech upon being re-elected in his constituency although almost certainly not as prime minister:

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