Election night special report
I have no idea why you’d be reading this live, when you could be watching Peter Snow in his virtual battleground, but here is a live election night blog-cast for as long as I can last…
I’m in the office tonight as I don’t have a TV and – more to the point – there’s a sense of excitement here which there won’t be if I’m by myself in Tufnell Park. Poor Anna is stuck in hotel in the North of England.
Coming into town there’s a sense of expection – but that might just be me projecting.
Meanwhile Chris Mullin’s seat has just been declared in Sunderland, and he’s won it by about 17,000. Exit polls (currently predicting a 66-seat Labour lead) would have had it at 19,000. So Labour might do okay, but not as good as a 66-seat lead.
Update at 2300hrs: Tom Happold reports this as a 5% loss for Labour. So not their 1-in-10 supposed nightmare, then.
Update at 2325hrs: This is the tech end of our office – a picture of calm.
Update at 2343hrs: Three seats declared, as summarised nicely here.
Update at 2355hrs: The BBC correspondent in “much mocked” Islington is having trouble with the locals. “Excuse me, madam, can you tell me who you voted for?” “No.” “Can you give us a clue?” For goodness sake. What did he expect her to say? “Well, they’re a yellow party…”
Update at 0019hrs: I am somewhat depressed that the BNP are consistently winning over 1,000 votes in each constituency.
Update at 0038hrs: The Conservatives have just taken Putney, after losing it originally in 1997 – a 9% loss for Labour.
Update at 0046hrs: Lloyd has read my mind. Who is this Tony King chappie?
