The first shock of the night was Northern Ireland's First Minster losing his seat in Belfast East to the Alliance Party's Naomi Long.

He'd been the subject of much controversy because of his wife's affair with a teenager.

1.35am: Prime Minister Gordon Brown (for now) holds his seat in Kirkcaldy with more votes than ever. He talks about it being his duty to provide a stable government.

1.45am: Not a big surprise but Chris Chope holds his Christchurch seat

2.20am: Oliver Letwin holds on to his seat in West Dorset

2.25am:Lembit Opik loses his Montgomeryshire seat to the Tories

2.58am: David Cameron holds his seat in Witney with 33,973. He says "It's already clear that the Labour government has lost its mandate to govern this country".

4.41am: Jacqui Smith suffers a resounding defeat in her Redditch seat, losing to Conservative Karen Lumley.

4.45 am: Ed Balls hold on to his seat in Morley and Outwood by just over 1,000 votes.

4.55am: Charles Clarke loses his seat to Lib Dem Simon Wright

5am: Lib Dem Health spokesman Dr Evan Harris loses his seat in Oxford and Abingdon. That will be a blow for scientists, who see him as a great spokesperson.

5.50am: Vince Cable holds on to his Twickenham seat for the Lib Dems. The next Chancellor? If Gordon gets his coalition.

5.52am: Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party, wins Brighton Pavilion. The party's first seat in the House of Commons

6.04am: The BNP's Nick Griffin fails to win Barking. Labour's Margaret Hodge gets a majority of 16,555

6.35am:Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg puts a bad night behind him to hold his Sheffield Hallam seat.

TIME? Esther Rantzen failed today in her bid to become MP for Luton South when the seat was held by Labour.