Well the dust has begun to settle. Nick Clegg, the media’s darling lost big, and his fledgling party made for the biggest disappointment of the night. Although they took a substantial portion of the popular vote, they actually lost seats to everyone’s surprise. Labour was crushed, signaling the end of Gordon Brown’s tenure as Prime Minister and the end of New Labour’s 13 years in power. In reality, Labour actually did rather well considering. They held onto a number of seats they were expected to lose and caused a hung Parliament. David Cameron, who so desperately wanted to be Prime Minister fell just short of the number of seats that he needed. The bottom line is that in the UK’s confusing political system, everyone lost.

The young, naive and power hungry Cameron and Clegg forged an alliance that put both in positions of power, yet will ultimately bring about their downfall. After a brief flirtation with Labour, Clegg sold his party out for five years of personal gain. The Lib Dems were once seen as a viable progressive alternative to the two major parties, and a safe way to vote against the Tories. By aligning with them, Clegg has already driven droves of his past supporters to join Labour, which now can claim to be the only true progressive party in the UK. Cameron, the conservative version of Barack Obama in his nation, in that he is a post-partisan figure who has modernized his party and its views, made concessions that were extremely unfavorable on policy issues and made members of his party quite uncomfortable. Namely, he has agreed to a referendum on proportional representation, the Lib Dem’s main platform. Yet based on this marriage, if Cameron were to renege on any of his promises and Clegg decided to break the coalition, it would trigger an election in which the Lib Dems would ultimately be crushed.

It has been said that whichever party won this election would be out of power for a generation. The Tories have had a sparking reputation in the suburbs on London, the base of their power, while the extremities, such as Scotland have been largely Labour territory since the Tories have more or less ignored them. Based on the painful budget cuts that Cameron and his government will be forced to make, this disparity will become even more apparent and many will feel deserted. Labour, on the other hand, while battered and bruised, has a chance to regroup. Had they formed a coalition with the Lib Dems, it would be rule by a minority government, albeit one that garnered over fifty percent of the vote. It would be virtually impossible to get anything done, and Labour would have been viewed as stealing the election in order to preserve power. While Gordon Brown was a capable and well respected leader on economic issues, which is what Britain needs right now, he is of a different generation, lacks charisma and has a less than glowing reputation amongst his aids based on his temper. It’s time for Labour to regroup and reinvent itself once again under new leadership.

Coming up in Part II is an evaluation of the greater picture, specifically the future of its relationship with the United States.

For more, read:

Prime Minister Cameron’s Speech Outside Number 10 Downing Street

Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Deal: full text