POLLS APART!

Labour landslide as Tories lose over half their seats

RESULT> The Labour Party has been elected for the first time in 23 years. Their victory - a landslide with the party enjoying a majority of 178 - is the biggest in the party's history. The Conservatives had their lowest share of the vote since 1832, and lost over half their MPs, including 7 Cabinet ministers. The Labour Party have 418 MPs - the first time in history that they have won more than 400 seats. It was a good night also for the Liberal Democrats. They more than doubled their number of MPs, winning 46 seats in all.

The Conservatives won only 165 seats, losing over 170. Among the casualties were seven Cabinet ministers (the "G-7", see page 2) and several former Cabinet ministers - David Mellor (Putney), Norman Lamont (Harrogate) and David Hunt (Wirral West). Also whittled were Sir Marcus Fox (Chairman of the backbench 1922 committee) and Neil Hamilton, defeated in Tatton by former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell.

The national swing against the Conservatives was about 10%, but in the seats where the Tories had been strongest, the swing was much greater. In Enfield Southgate, formerly the seat of Michael Portillo, there was a swing to Labour of 17½%. The Tories have now been left with no seats at all outside of England - making them a truly "one-nation party".