As the dust settles...

So the election has been and gone. The candidates made their pitches, the pollsters made their excuses, and the electorate made their decision (kind of). And the question on everyone's lips is... how did my six hot picks do in their respective seats? If you want the real untold story of this election, read on:

Gavin Shuker fought off a feeble deposit-losing campaign by Esther Rantzen to retain Luton South for Labour. As the result came through sometime after midnight I found myself cheering in the middle of a group of Tories at the Basildon count, which left me with some explaining to do :) Now all the startled Mr Shuker has to do is work out for what purpose he is sitting on those green benches...

Steve Webb is back as predicted, and with the Lib Dems helping to form the new government has landed a ministerial role in the Department of Work & Pensions under the great Iain Duncan-Smith. Phillippa Stroud failed to take Sutton & Cheam, thanks in part to a Daniel 6:4-5 style character assassination attempt by the Observer newspaper, but as former head of the Centre for Social Justice has been given a role a Special Advisor in the same department. With these 3 at the helm, the chance of welfare reform to help lift the poorest in society out of the benefits trap looks brighter than it has done for a generation.

John Mason lost his Glasgow East seat as Labour retrenched to their Scottish heartlands, and Nicky Morgan ed Loughborough off Andy Reed as Labour took a pounding in the English marginals. Overall the Conservative Christian Fellowship enjoyed a very good night, with all their MP members being re-elected and 11 new members entering parliament for the first time.

But possibly the most stunning event of the night was the fall of Evan Harris MP, the Lib Dems atheist Goliath, felled by an unprecedented 16% swing to young Tory Nicola Blackwood. So unexpected that I didn't even find out until 2 days later, and possibility the best news for religious freedom in the UK since the Act of Toleration. No word yet on whether Dr Harris considers this to be an 'act of God', but a lot of prayer groups around Oxfordshire are in no doubt...