I went to bed at 5 am this morning, and woke up at 7 am this morning. I feel dreadful and probably like Sarah Teather MP new elected MP for Brent I need to sleep. I am only surviving on adrenaline and caffeine, not the excitement of Iain Dale running naked down Whitehall, London, because he lost his confident bet about the number of seats that the Lib Dems woud get.

Whilst it was not a treat night for us, I feel in many ways it’s been very successful. Bear in the Conservatives had the whole of the BBC spitting bullets at us (as they are now), along with Sky, Times, the Sunday Times, Telegraph, Sun, Sunday Times, News of the World. The constitution convention, as clarified recently by the Government’s cabinet office, is that the PM can decide to broker a coalition with another party, in the event of a hung parliament. David Cameron convincingly got nowhere the finishing the line, and therefore a significant section of the public will find it contemptible if he (Cameron) attempts to become the self-proclaimed King.

Nick Clegg has stuck to his word in saying that he would let the largest party with the biggest share take pole position, but he should not smugly defy the Queen through defiance of her conventions. He could risk getting into bed with the Tories, but this would be a big risk. If he takes up Brown’s offer of talks through the civil service, if the time comes, he can accept a referendum on electoral reform which Cameron would have to match. Also, the other sticking point is that the Queen’s Speech on May 25th would ask for a mandate for a minority Conservative government for savage cuts. If Clegg removes effectively the Tory whip on his cohort of 56 Lib Dem MPs, possibly Cameron’s firs Queen’s Speech could get voted down. In the national interest, not Cameron’s interst, there is therefore a convincing case for why Clegg should “have a second look at Labour”, because, if he doesn’t, he may lose his first chance for electoral reform in 95 years.