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The Maddest Moments from the UK Election Results Night

The Maddest Moments from the UK Election Results Night

QS Staff Writer

Updated November 30, 2023 Updated November 30
英国大选结果之夜最疯狂的时刻

By Sabrina Collier, Mathilde Frot and Craig O'Callaghan

Staying up all night to watch the UK general election results come in is a tradition normally only observed by the most foolhardy and unemployed. As election day drew to a close this year, however, the prospect of staying up to watch the Tories romp to a 100-seat victory didn't seem all that appealing. The only slim hope for Labour supporters was a YouGov poll, published that morning, which was predicting a hung parliament.

With every other poll predicting a Tory majority, it's fair to say there weren't many people putting their faith in YouGov. Then, at 10pm, the exit poll was announced.

The Tory majority? Non-existent. According to the exit poll, we were heading for a hung parliament.

So we all settled in for a long night...

While everyone tried to process the news and the first seats began to declare, the BBC studio had to deal with an unwelcome intruder. David Dimbleby, King of election night coverage and consummate professional, dealt with the situation with his usual class.

While, on Channel 4, Labour politician and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was relishing the opportunity to drop a sick burn in the direction of the Tories.

Many Conservative politicians decided it was much better to remain in a state of denial about the whole thing.

It wasn't just the Tories having a bad night. Nick Clegg, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost his seat in Sheffield Hallam, to the delight of students who hadn't forgotten his broken promise to cut tuition fees.

Labour were celebrating as best as they could...

By now, Prime Minister Theresa May knew the election wasn't going the way she'd hoped. She at least managed to comfortably hold her own seat, despite challenges from Elmo and an individual known as Lord Buckethead (I promise you, we aren't making this up)

Lord Buckethead is no new face in politics, and actually enjoyed his best campaign yet.

He wasn't the only novelty candidate trying to make a party leader feel embarrassed. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron had to put up with a man dressed as a fish finger

As the sun began to rise, it was clear that the British people had failed to be won over by the strong and stable, hard-Brexit, grammar school, fox-hunting future put forward by Theresa May. The politician who recently claimed to have never done anything naughtier than running through a farmer's field of wheat had made a catastrophic error of judgment.

And a surge in young voters was partly responsible.

With no clear majority and Brexit negotiations starting a week on Monday, what would happen now?

Nobody seemed quite sure, though for now it seems Theresa May has no plans of standing down as Prime Minister. Instead, the Conservatives will aim to govern the country with support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland. Their votes, combined with the Conservatives, would give them a majority in the House of Commons. It's safe to say this plan doesn't seem entirely rock solid...

Nevertheless, Theresa May has gone to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen and seek permission to form a new government. Wonder if anyone will beat her to it?

This article was originally published in June 2017 . It was last updated in November 2023

You know, the general election wasn't the only big story this week...
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