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The best and the worst
This election has set a number of records or other remarkable results:
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Tony Blair's majority of 179 smashes the previous post-war record of 146, set by Clement Attlee's Labour government in
1945.
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Labour's swing of 10% is the biggest since 1945.
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The chamber of the House of Commons only seats about 400 MPs - Labour has more than that on its own.
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The Conservative performance is a complete contrast - the party's share of the vote at around 31% is its lowest this century and the worst since 1832.
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With only 165 MPs, it is the first time since 1906 that the Tories have failed to break the 200-seat barrier.
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A record seven Cabinet ministers
lost their seats - Malcolm Rifkind, Michael Portillo, Ian Lang, Michael Forsyth, William Waldegrave, Tony Newton and Roger Freeman.
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There are no Tory MPs in
Scotland for the first time since 1832.
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There are no Tory MPs in Wales - for the first time since 1906.
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The Liberal Democrats have achieved the best third-party showing by any party since 1929. They won 46 seats.
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The Lib Dems' final victory in
Winchester was achieved by just two votes, the narrowest margin since 1931.
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There will be a record number of women MPs - 120.
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Labour's Mohammed Sarwar (Glasgow Govan) becomes Britain's first Muslim MP.
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Ben Bradshaw (Labour, Exeter) becomes the first person to become an MP after admitting to being gay. There have been other homosexual MPs, but they did not "come out" until after entering Parliament.
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