Stephen Byers will be waiting by the phone and Alan Milburn can demand a plum job.This is a profoundly depressing outcome for the Tories, who have reaped scant reward for an aggressive campaign. Michael Howard vows to stay on to save them from meltdown, but the party plunges into renewed agonies as modernisers warn that it must reinvent itself or die.The Liberal Democrats have made modest gains, but they lack the critical mass to dictate events given Labour’s crushing majority.Blair wins 80-seat majorityAlthough Labour has won another clear victory, it has lost at least 40 seats and is only about three points ahead of the Tories in the total vote.Tony Blair could find himself vulnerable to his left-wing rebels, who have the numbers to make his life uncomfortable, and speculation intensifies over how long he will stay in office. The Prime Minister says he is determined to serve a full term despite rumours that he could bow out after next year’s referendum on the European constitution.Gordon Brown’s position is strengthened and he demands the promotion of allies as his price for coming to the rescue of the campaign.The Tories have made only modest progress, picking up some seats in the South, but losing others to the Liberal Democrats because of tactical voting. They still have fewer than the 209 seats won by Michael Foot during Labour’s dog days.

Michael Howard stays on for a year.With nearly 20 gains, the Liberal Democrats have 70 seats and the prospect of considerable influence at Westminster.Blair’s majority cut to 40 seatsLabour has lost 60 seats, from Sussex to the Scottish Highlands, and is only a percentage point ahead of the Tories in the popular vote, winning the backing of just over one in three voters.Although some of Tony Blair’s predecessors would have loved a similar working majority, his future looks precarious. He reshuffles his Cabinet team, Gordon Brown secures the promotion of several key lieutenants and Mr Blair appears to prepare for an orderly handover of power.Left wingers, who now have the power to overturn the Labour majority, will not wait, however, and immediately begin moves to depose Mr Blair.The Conservatives still have not made dramatic progress, although they now have 210 seats and seem to be recovering after a decade in the doldrums.The Liberal Democrats also scent influence, with the outcome of all parliamentary votes depending on their stance. They picked up another 15 seats.Labour has to scrap its plans for a national identity card scheme given the strength of opposition in the new-look Commons. It braces itself for a fresh battle over anti-terror laws.Blair routed in hung parliamentA disastrous performance by Labour, losing 110 seats as they are wiped out in the south of England and fall behind the Tories in the popular vote.Mr Blair looks doomed, facing recriminations over the Iraq war following a catastrophic loss of trust in him among the voters.A stunned Prime Minister knows his leadership is doomed and decides to step down as soon as a contest can be arranged. In the meantime, in conjunction with Gordon Brown, he begins working on a makeshift cabinet.The Liberal Democrats, basking in the glory of a contingent of 85 MPs, find they are offered cabinet places and a review of the electoral system.The Conservatives, who have made more than 80 gains, are back in business, having renewed their appeal to Middle England. A buoyant Michael Howard’s leadership is secured.Labour is forced to woo the Liberal Democrats on contentious legislation, including plans to reform the council tax and overhaul the pensions system. The Liberal Democrats demand the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by the end of the year.Tories win as Blair humiliatedThe most stunning result in electoral history hands Downing Street to Michael Howard.

With more than 330 seats, the Tories have broken through in every part of England and even gained seats in Scotland and Wales.Mr Howard hands key cabinet posts to David Davis, Liam Fox, Oliver Letwin and young guns George Osborne and David Cameron. He begins work on his “timetable for action”.Labour goes into meltdown, having lost more than 180 constituencies in its worst election performance since 1983.A humiliated Tony Blair resigns immediately and senior party figures turn to Gordon Brown to lead them out of disaster. Left-wingers look for a challenger to stop him having a clear run.The Liberal Democrats have a respectable haul of 60 seats and because of the tiny Tory majority are serious players at Westminster.Mr Howard embarks on a radical reshaping of public services, with school vouchers offered for private education and subsidies for hospital patients who go private. Tory ministers enter fraught negotiations with their opposite numbers in Brussels.. A buoyant Charles Kennedy predicted that the Liberal Democrats were heading for a “massive increase” in support as he said the party had “reasons to be cheerful” in the final hours of the campaign. There is an optimistic, buoyant feeling about the Liberal Dem-ocrats as we close the campaign,” he said “I have found it personally very enjoyable indeed. We have set out our case and really got through to people.”Last night, the party was warning that the result was “unpredictable” and “extremely close” in scores of target seats.”The mood is very bullish, but it is too close to call in a lot of marginals,” said one Liberal Democrat source.

He declared the Tory vote was collapsing and Labour was looking rattled.”We are seeing a haemorrhage in support for the Conservatives. “They know who they are and they know we are coming for them,” he said.At Cowley Street, the Liberal Democrats’ London headquarters, the mood was upbeat, with predictions that they could outflank the SNP and come second in Scotland.But campaign managers warned that the result was so close that it was “coming down to hand-to-hand combat” in marginal seats across the country.In Brent East, the site of a ground-breaking Liberal Democrat by-election victory in 2003, Mr Kennedy made a final election visit. The party’s polling shows it is running neck-and-neck with Labour and the Tories in seats across Britain and is on course to gain high-profile scalps.Mr Kennedy held his final press conference of the campaign, declaring he had started “tired” but now felt “rejuvenated”.Lord Razzall, the Liberal Democrat campaigns chief, claimed the party’s “decapitation strategy” of top Tories, including Michael Howard, was on track. In Shipley, West Yorkshire, he stood directly behind the Labour candidate Chris Leslie, who did the introductions, while Mr Blair seemed pushed to one side. When he speaks to the Labour faithful, Mr Brown repeatedly uses the phrase: “On behalf of Tony and myself.”As one Labour official who has travelled round with them put it: “You sense that a transfer of power is taking place before our very eyes The centre of gravity is moving Gordon is unstoppable The succession will be a shoo-in.

I don’t think anyone in the Cabinet will even stand against him. The only question now is when it happens.”When well-wishers in the party ask the Chancellor’s travelling aides how “the succession” is going, they get a pretty dusty answer: “We’ve got a general election to win first.” An ally insisted there was “no deal” with the Prime Minister about a handover. Referring to Mr Brown’s previous disappointments, he added: “We’ve had enough private deals. This time the deal is being played out in public.”On the road, Mr Brown often appears more relaxed than Mr Blair. He looks a more rounded politician than in the past, as he speaks about how becoming a father has confirmed his political instincts. “I think we recognise what I individually now know – that there are millions of parents really struggling quite hard to balance all their responsibilities – the help with their children and the demands of working life,” he says.The Chancellor’s brow is certainly less furrowed than the Prime Minister’s and he looks less tired We have seen Smiling Gordon rather than Grumpy Gordon There is a good reason.