Election Night 2010

@Itsrobert - give up and accept after four years of campaigning and opposition, the public don't want you. It's ridiculous he's spent two years calling Brown an "unelected prime minister" despite Brown being the unopposed leader of the majority - that's more elected than the leader of a minority or coalition government.

The Tories have the largest number of seats and the biggest share of the vote. How can he 'give up'? What's the alternative? Labour and the LibDems together couldn't hit 326!!

If Cameron is so concerned about the "national interest" he wouldn't be lining himself up as PM!

House/Brekkie - I don't understand your argument at all. If the people don't want Cameron as PM, then certainly don't want Brown or Clegg either. Both of them lost seats and didn't have the biggest share of the vote.

He'll expect Brown to step down as leader of the Labour party, not just Prime Minister, when it appears through both general elections and various polling David Cameron and his team aren't anywhere near as popular as he'd like to think, and a party who were meant to be victorious failed even to make a majority.


If the Tories can't work with Labour, would Labour & Lib Dems be able to challenge the Tories as a minority government, if they had more seats, if the Tories went for a minority government? Minority Governments don't work, of course, but is it hypothetically possible?

Adam Boulton just dumped an unattended bag outside the Conservative building in London. That could lead to trouble.

Itsrobert - My point is Cameron has proved himself to be a lightweight who has failed to achieve a victory weeks, months and even years ago commentators, and members of their party, believed was theirs. My point is that while he might be more popular than Clegg and Brown, how can Cameron possibly improve, if this is his best result after four years as leader of the opposition and against a very weak government?

Hypothetically, yes, a Lab/LibDem minority government probably could work, but it would be morally unacceptable and both parties would be discredited. How on earth could two parties who clearly came off worse than the Tories hold power?! Yes, the Tories may not have won, but they're in the best position in a bad situation.

If the Lib Dems work with the Tories PR won't do them any favours in the future. Colluding with the Tories will never be forgiven and they will never break through into the big two!

@House - but the Tories had to climb Everest in order to gain a working majority. Don't forget, they have gained more seats in this election than they have in 80 years!! Yes, they might not have won, but that's a remarkable achievement for Cameron.

Sian's in the background back at the newsdesk now, so I imagine there'll be an update at 3 o'clock.

It would seem that, now that David Cameron has made his statement, most of the negotiations will now take place behind closed doors. So, once the remaining results have been declared, there will be less breaking news. I would expect the BBC to call it quits at 6pm, with an extended Ten O'Clock News, and more coverage tomorrow.