Let the count, and the recriminations, begin!
We haven't yet heard the first results, I'm poised in our Southampton nerve centre, but already the back-biting has begun.
Of course we're expecting jostling within Labour as the few surviving MPs in the South try to work out the party's future direction.
UKIPs Nigel Farage will be asking whose idea it was to put him in that plane for the photocall.. not the sort of bounce that he wanted!
And it's only the start of working out what's happened to the Liberal Democrat vote.. But some are already telling me they may have made some poor campaigning choices.
Perhaps overcome by Cleggmania they're suggesting that some poor calls were made in week two of the campaign, switching resources from seats they were defending like Winchester into ones where they suddenly felt they had a chance.
Perhaps it will prove a brave move later tonight. But I'm told lobbying from the two former MPs carried the day, when others felt that newer candidates had a better chance.
Watch Newbury and Guildford carefully. If David Rendel and Sue Doughty are victorious then they've proved the doubters wrong. But if Liz Leffman manages to run it closer in the new Hampshire seat of Meon Valley then the knives will be out.
And the Conservatives? I ran into a Shadow Minister a little earlier. "Looking forward to a shorter summer holiday if Dave's in charge?" I asked.
"Well, of course. Ministers of State have to get straight down to work!" He shoots back.
Precisely how many different chickens were being counted in that one answer?
Welcome to the hustings! I'm Peter Henley, the BBC's political reporter in the south of England. From parish councils in Sussex, to European politics in Oxford, this is the blog for you. 
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.