UKIP won 12.6% of the vote share, but only one seat – not Nigel Farage’s.
Hannah McKay/EPA
With 63% of the country not voting Tory, the result throws up its own question of legitimacy.
Five more years: David Cameron returns to Number 10 Downing Street.
EPA/Andy Rain
A stunning surprise put the Conservatives back in power with no need for a coalition, while the Scottish nationalists stormed to victory north of the border. What now?
Clegg may have clung on to his seat, but things aren’t looking good.
Nigel Roddis/EPA
We knew this would be a bad night for the Lib Dems but few predicted it’d be this bad. Vince Cable, Danny Alexander, Simon Hughes, Jo Swinson, Ed Davey, Lynne Featherstone and many others have lost their…
Lib Dems are surprisingly reticent on EU.
Andy Rain/EPA
Clegg’s party has difficulty painting a positive picture of the EU.
Nick Clegg’s in a sweet spot.
Liberal Democrats
Losing seats but gaining power is likely to be an apt title for any book written about the Lib Dems 2015 election experience.
Wishing it doesn’t make it so.
EPA/Nigel Roddis
A minority Labour administration might govern the UK despite finishing runner-up in both England and Scotland.
Whaddayagonnado?
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
Treasury minister does the dirty on coalition partners in 11th hour bid to win back votes.
Get your rose-tinted spectacles out.
Christopher Furlong/PA Archive
Some small victories aside, neither party comes out shining.
Visionary? Not any more.
Jonathan Brady/PA
The Liberal Democrats’ 2015 campaign has ditched ideology and emphasised concrete policy plans – not a good move when they’re struggling to be heard.
Yvette Cooper out on the beat.
Ian Nicholson/PA Archive
Labour and the Lib Dems have clashed over whether crime is going up or down. Which is it?
Nick Clegg’s manifesto is unlikely to make waves on tax.
Will Oliver/EPA
The Liberal Democrats’ tax plans are unlikely to make much of a difference.
Tell us what you really think.
Image via www.shutterstock.com
Surprise! Almost everyone supports gay marriage (even UKIP voters).
Executive transvestite Eddie Izzard leads the charge for Labour.
Lynne Cameron/PA
There are two types of election campaign; one consists of leader debates, speeches by politicians, press releases and photo opportunities organised by the national parties, together with media interviews…
UK politics is no longer a political tango for two, as this party leaders’ debate illustrated.
EPA/Ken McKay/ITV/Rex
Voters in the UK are again looking beyond the traditional two-party system and look set to put paid to a famous proposition of political science.
Hot air or grounded fact?
Andrew Milligan/PA Archive
Lib Dem energy minister Ed Davey says renewable electricity has soared under the coalition. Is he right?
Please don’t abolish us.
Clara Molden/PA
If they get the Lords reform they’re asking for, the Liberal Democrats might have to kiss goodbye to political influence entirely.
Your name’s not down.
Martin Rickett/PA
Our immigration expert evaluates the manifestos of 16 political parties, to see how their policies on immigration stack up.
‘Sign it? I mean, have you seen these new Facebook terms and conditions?’
Unknown artist
The Liberal Democrats have been a lone voice among the parties calling for a digital bill of rights governing our growing use of the internet. But is it the right solution for the problem in hand?
Primary colours.
Dominic Lipinski/PA
For all of Nick Clegg’s campaign promises, the Lib Dem’s vision of early childhood isn’t the clearest.
Not impressed: Nick Clegg would like to distance his party from Cameron’s on immigration.
Stefan Rousseau/PA
The Liberal Democrats want a change in direction over immigration.