The Night Of The General Election Was Basically The Red Wedding

An Ed Wedding, if you will.

So a very important event was soon to happen.

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An up-and-coming leader was about to take part in a ritual that would decide the future of an entire land.

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Labour were confident of victory, and the final polls reported that there were likely to be only a few seats between them and the Conservatives.

It might require some work, and some uncomfortable alliances, but a future could be forged.

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The new force to be reckoned with were the SNP, who were seeking power, but any alliance would sit very uncomfortably.

So they went to the moment of truth with no small amount of confidence.

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In the minutes before the exit polls were released, the prevailing mood among Labour supporters was that while the final result was unclear, they definitely had the upper hand over the Conservatives (aka The Lannisters).

But suddenly...

The exit polls arrived, and they were far more negative than anyone had anticipated, giving the Conservatives 30 or more seats than previous polls had suggested.

What if friends were actually foes?

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Despite the exit polls, few believed that they would actually be accurate. Commenters and candidates across the spectrum preached caution, as they were so far away from previous predictions.

What if something unexpected was about to happen?

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Labour suddenly discovered that the SNP were much more powerful than expected.

And then the music started playing.

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The first results actually followed the exit polls closely, and not the more Labour-positive polls from earlier. It suggested that Labour were about to do much, much worse than anticipated.

And the slaughter began.

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Very early in the night, Labour began to lose seats to the SNP. Twenty-year-old Mahiri Black won a Labour stronghold away from shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander.

Prominent people were cut down.

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Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy lost his seat to the SNP shortly afterwards, and there were colossal swings of up to 39% across Scotland, even in areas that had previously voted against independence.

The destruction began in earnest.

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The Conservatives began to make gains in the Midlands from Labour and the Lib Dems as well, and even won totally unexpected seats in Wales and the south.

No matter if the people involved were likable or not.

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Lib Dems Vince Cable and Charles Kennedy and Conservative Esther McVey were all kicked out, and Nick Clegg came closer to losing his seat than expected. Even Ed Balls is expected to lose.

One after another, it became clearer and clearer that there would be no respite.

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The exit polls seemed increasingly accurate, and Labour were set to win only 239, well short of the 270–280 that had been predicted just hours before they came out. The Lib Dems collapsed entirely.

Power had shifted inexorably and brutally.

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The SNP took over Scotland almost completely, failing to gain only a few seats across the entire country, while the Conservatives are likely to be only a few seats from an overall majority.

It's a new world.

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The electoral map has been changed significantly – the SNP's gains force them into a position of power, while the previously relevant Lib Dems have been all but wiped out.

But the same people are in power.

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