04.44 thank god, we managed to keep that christian moralist tory out of the house of commons! At least the campaign run by the local LibDem party decided NOT to focus on the obvious and instead, to fight a fair and clean one, a decision which was vindicated in their retention of the seat tonight.

04.38 What more can you say? She who was embroiled in the start of the expenses sleaze is now gone.

04.35

Dunbartonshire East – stays LibDem, well done Jo Swinson

‘Things are really hard to call’ . This was Margaret Becket’s analysis of the election at 0416hrs this morning. The core Labour vote, as demonstrated in Redcar, is not following the party line.

‘Sweeping analysis’ is not wise she suggested, and ‘it sounds like we are heading for a hung parliament’ she further added.

Scutiny of the LibDem and Conservative policies have perhaps helped shape the voting intentions.

‘Gordon Brown IS the Prime Minister’ was her affirmation when asked by Iain Dale whether Brown had a mandate to the the PM. ‘Gordon is a formidable man and a formidable politician’ she added.

Wow – as I was on air, listening to Peter Hain, tweets came through that Redcar was a LibDem gain. I had looked at this seat earlier and pretty much discounted it from my list – there was a 20%+ swing required and this seemed impossible.

Well, against all odds, and to the surprise of everyone (!), we did it!

Congratulations to Ian Swales, the newly elected LibDem MP.