Discussion of whether it was the Sun wot won it in the Murdoch thread brought this to mind again. The 1992 general election, As You Know, returned the Conservatives to power with a small majority against public expectations that Kinnock-led Labour would emerge victorious. There are a few reasons for this, such as bad polling methods exaggerating support for Labour and the infamous triumphalism on Labour's part that turned the public off. It has however often been suggested on here that this could have been overcome to deliver a Labour victory.
Here's a third possibility, though, one brought particularly to mind by the current political situation in the UK - what if the result had been a hung parliament, with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance?
Let's say the Conservatives win more seats than Labour, but just barely, and are at least 10 short of an overall majority. The three basic possibilities are Labour+Lib Dem coalition (with the probable Lib Dem price being a referendum on some kind of PR voting reform), Conservative+Lib Dem coalition (very unlikely) and Conservative minority government if Labour and the Lib Dems are unable to agree (probably unstable at a critical time when Major would soon face civil war in the party over Maastricht).
Thoughts?