Gradually, then suddenly. That is how Ernest Hemingway famously described a character’s bankruptcy. That was how the 14-year Tory hegemony of Britain came to a brutal end.
If the exit poll released on the stroke of 10pm is even half right, this is less a changing of the executive, more a punishment beating – and one that is well deserved. A 170-seat majority for Keir Starmer and his refashioned Labour party, which is projected to land 410 seats. A drubbing for the Tories, pegged back to 131.
