Expected surprise

This was a general election analysed threadbare,without anybody getting any wiser,days before the polling booths opened. Now,the aftermath of the most interesting election in the United Kingdom for decades has put the mother of parliaments in the spotlight. As the UK gets a hung parliament,questions of constitutionalism have taken centrestage,while the outcome is a disappointment for all major parties. Labour has been punished,but not so harshly as to make the removals van arrive for Gordon Browns stuff immediately (of course,former Home Secretary Jacqui Smiths defeat is a major instance of the expenses scandals fallout); the Tories have gained,but not enough for David Cameron to walk triumphantly into 10,Downing Street. And the poster boys from the TV debates,the Liberal Democrats,have lost more seats than theyve gained in a disappointing inability to convert their surge into seats,including the colourful Lembit Opiks defeat in Wales.

But the parliamentary world,especially those deriving their government from Westminster,is watching keenly to see not just the post-election rituals but especially how Westminster resolves the problem of its first hung Commons since 1974,when Tory PM Edward Heath with most votes had hung on for four days against Harold Wilsons Labour with four more seats. Now,its Cameron who believes the Labour government has lost its mandate to govern,Brown has tried to stay put,trying to work out an agreement with Nick Clegg,who had the option of looking both Labour and Tory ways,bargaining for a referendum on electoral reforms as his price. So wholl be winning (or losing) the Queens Speech on May 25?

Westminster given its relative inexperience with hung parliaments,minority or coalition governments can,ironically,look across the Channel,or at India,though its anybodys guess how transplanted examples work. The Tories havent been out of power for so long since the 19th century; Labour never in government for so long. If that run ends now,or if it doesnt,Clegg and perhaps some of the smallest players will have something to do with it. In any case,the Greens have made history with their first Westminster MP.