"And as Big Ben strikes ten, the polls close, and we can give you the results of our exit poll; we have spoken to fourteen thousand people in two hundred constituencies tonight, and we hope they've been telling us the truth." Dimbleby sat back to enjoy this last instant of oblivion....
BONG
"And there it is, ten o' clock and we say...we say Tony Blair will be Prime Minister, with a Labour majority of...20 seats. But...he will not have the largest vote share if this poll is right...which places the Labour Party on 39% of the vote and the Conservatives with 41%, two points ahead." The infographics hadn't kicked in yet to show this shock result, but it didn't matter for now, and Dimbleby gestured at the screens to his left, "And reactions down there, from Conservative Headquarters on the top-right, surprisingly jubilant...more stoic scenes in Sedgefield below...I think Labour was hoping for a lot more."
Dimbleby had let his usual calm and composed veneer fall for just a moment as he took in what the poll was saying, but now he steeled himself quickly: this was going to be a long night.