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Election night: how it unfolded



Minute by minute coverage of all the key moments from the night

Matthew Tempest and Richard Moriarty
Friday June 8, 2001
Guardian Unlimited


• Blair walks back into No 10 Downing Street

5.50am
Mr Blair praises Neil Kinnock as the man who started the modernisation of Labour party and tells flag-waving supporters "This is a night of history for our party.

"The one thing we have to remember is that now is the time when the people of this country want us to serve them, and want us to do the things we promised to do. "Our mandate is to carry on the work that we started."



5.50am
Tony Blair greets staff and supporters at Labour HQ, Millbank Tower.

5.45am
Tory supporting comedian Jim Davidson arrives at Conservative central office saying: "I'm just scratching my head thinking 'am I part of this country now?' Everyone else has voted for Tony Blair - I must be absolutely out of touch."

5.20am
Lib Dems hold Winchester
• Tories fail to win Monmouth, leaving them with no seats in Wales again.

5.15am
The prime minister's plane touches down in London.

5.07am
Romsey
Sandra Gidley holds the seat the Lib Dems won at a byelection last year.

5.01am
Lib Dem Jackie Ballard loses her Taunton seat to the Conservatives.

4.32am
Ken Clarke holds his Rushcliffe seat.

4.29am
Richmond Conservative leader William Hague keeps his seat, increasing the majority by more than 6,000. He says: "Results are deeply disappointing for my party. We must respect the verdict of the voters and listen to what they have said. It must be a sobering lesson for all parties that millions have not taken part in this election. I will set out my views for how we revive the party later this morning."

4.25am
Devizes Conservative party chairman Michael Ancram holds his seat.

4.15am
Dorset South Labour wins its top target seat, its second gain of the night.

4.02am
Henley Boris Johnson takes responsibility for true-blue seat from Michael Heseltine, quoting Bob Dylan: "They say the darkest hour comes just before the dawn."

3.50am
Tory party strategist and speechwriter Danny Finkelstein fails to regain Harrow West.

3.45am
Folkestone & Hythe Michael Howard holds his seat.

3.42am
Hague leaves constituency home for count in Richmond.

3.40am
William Hague concedes defeat in private telephone call to Tony Blair, and congratulates him on victory.

3.21am
Martin Bell fails to oust Conservative Eric Pickles in Brentwood & Ongar.

3.20am
Oliver Letwin keeps Dorset West seat.
• Malcolm Rifkind fails to regain his at Edinburgh Pentlands.

3.07am
Conservatives regain Galloway and Upper Nithsdale - their first Scottish seat since pre-1997.

3am
LABOUR WIN - OFFICIAL Labour reach 330 seats benchmark.

2.55am
Enfield Southgate Stephen Twigg wins again.

2.50am
Tories gain Upminster. Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes keeps North Bermondsey and Southwark.

2.45am
Lib Dems win Chesterfield, Tony Benn's old seat, from Labour.

2.45am
Leicester East Keith Vaz keeps seat - swing against him 8%.

2.40am BBC reports national turnout could be as low as 53%.

2.26am Wyre Forest Dr Richard Taylor, independent campaigner for Kidderminster hospital, defeats Labour's Andrew Lock, to become first independent MP of new parliament.

2.24am Peter Mandelson says: "If all the facts were known on the day, I would not have had to resign."

2.20am Labour hold Margaret Thatcher's old seat, Finchley & Golders Green.

2.15am Lib Dems gain Guildford after two recounts.

2.10am Charles Kennedy easily holds Ross, Skye and Inverness West, majority rising from 4,000 to 13,000.
Tories gain Tatton.

2.03am
Tories take their first seat from Labour by winning Romford with a swing of 9.2%.

2.02am
Lib Dems take Mid Dorset off the Tories.

1.59am
Michael Portillo holds Kensington & Chelsea - with 10% drop in turnout.

1.56am
Lib Dems increase majority in their second most vulnerable seat, Kingston & Surbiton, from 56 votes to nearly 16,000.

1.26am
Hartlepool Peter Mandelson holds his seat: "I am a fighter, not a quitter." Arthur Scargill polls 912 votes.
• The controversial former paymaster-general, Geoffrey Robinson, holds Coventry North East.

1.35am
Recounts taking place in Chesterfield, Guildford, Cheadle and Perth.

1.34am
BBC poll now predicts a Labour majority of 173.

1.29am
Tony Blair holds Sedgefield - with a reduced majority and a swing to the Tories of 4.7%. Mr Blair claims national victory for Labour, saying the re-election of a Labour government would show the public "agree with the direction of this government but they want us to get on with the journey".

1.23am
Michael Meacher holds neighbouring Oldham West & Royton - but BNP leader Nick Griffin polls more than 6,000 votes.

1.20am
Phil Woolas holds Oldham East and Saddleworth for Labour - but after race riots, BNP poll 5,091.

1.16am
St Helens South Shaun Woodward holds his new seat - but is booed. Socialist Alliance polls more than 2,500 votes.
• Jordan fails to take Stretford and Urmston.

1.08am
Tories fail to recapture Eastwood - prior to 1997, one of their safest seats in Scotland.

1.03am
Hotly tipped Estelle Morris holds her Birmingham seat - after earlier wobble.

1am
Labour take Anglesey from Plaid Cymru.

12.50am
"It appears the Conservatives have not been successful tonight but it also appears we will make some gains," admits Michael Portillo. Ken Clarke refuses to speculate on William Hague's future.

12.31am
Adrian Sanders, returned as the Lib Dem MP for Torbay, says he is "staggered, stunned, amazed" at the size of the 6,708 majority with which he won.

12.30am
Tony Blair arrives at the Sedgefield count.

12.25am
Torbay Lib Dems hold - was Tory's No.2 target. Lib Dem majority up from 12, to more than 6,000. Southport also held by the Lib Dems.

12.21am
Deputy prime minister John Prescott holds Hull East, but turnout down 13%.

12.16am
Latest BBC prediction: Labour majority of 159 seats.

12.11am
Birmingham Edgbaston: Gisela Stuart holds Labour's key gain of 1997.

12.05am
Dunfermline EastChancellor Gordon Brown holds his super-safe Labour seat, with turnout down 13%
• Clare Short holds Birmingham Ladywood.

11.41pm
Northern Ireland secretary John Reid condemns suspected republican shooting of two RUC officers in Draperstown, Co Londonderry; "They [the culprits] have no mandate and they dare not seek a mandate because what they represent has been rejected time and again by the people of Ireland, north and south. My thoughts now are with the two injured officers."

11.30pm
David Blunkett hints Mr Blair will carry out his cabinet reshuffle tomorrow, saying: "Time will tell tomorrow, whether I'm at the Home Office."

11.25pm
Sunderland North Labour - third hold: 5% for "metric martyr" independent candidate. Turnout down 10%.

11.23pm
Hamilton SouthLabour holds second seat - but turnout down 14%.

11.05pm
Prime minister's official spokesman, Alastair Campbell, says: "We are going to win, and win with a big majority. Labour will lose some seats and some good people due to tactical voting."

10.45pm
Sunderland South Labour hold: Chris Mullin MP. Turnout 48.3%, down 10% on 1997. Mr Mullin says: "One nation politics has again triumphed over two nation politics."

10.05pm The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, welcomes the exit poll, saying: "We've done a good job so far. But there's stil a lot more to do and if we've convinced the electorate to give us a chance we would be delighted to get on with it."

10.03pm The shadow chancellor, Michael Portillo, says: "I hope very much that William Hague stays as leader. It was the best campaign."

• Two RUC officer wounded in shooting outside a polling station in Co Londonderry. The incident took place outside a polling station in Draperstown as the general election in Northern Ireland drew to a close.

It is understood a gunman stepped out of a car near a primary school where voting was taking place and fired shots. One victim sustained a shoulder injury and another was struck in the arm.

10pm: Exit polls published
BBC
Conservative 32%
Labour 44%
Lib Dems 17%
Others 6%
Projected Labour majority of 160

ITV
Conservatives 31%, 154 seats [1997=165]
Labour 44%, 417 seats [1997=418]
Lib Dems 19%, 58 seats [1997=46]
Others 30 [1997=30]
Projected Labour majority of 175 - down 4 seats on 1997
Turnout: 63%

Results
State of the parties so far
Ask Aristotle about every result

Election headlines
The night so far

Seats to watch
When the key seats declare
Talk: the election so far
Election night text messages




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