In Surprise Lurch to the Right, David Cameron Takes UK Election

Thursday’s United Kingdom elections brought a surprise lurch to the right, with the Conservative Party seizing the majority of Parliamentary seats and Prime Minister David Cameron sweeping back to power with more muscle behind him this time.

The overwhelming win was unexpected, as polls ahead of the election had shown a close race with the opposition Labour Party, and many analysts had expected a hung parliament in the immediate aftermath.

But both the centrist liberal democrats and Labour Party were clobbered in the election, prompting Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to resign from his role.

Cameron immediately signaled that he plans to oppose independence for Scotland and Wales. “I want my party, and I hope a government that I would like to lead, to reclaim a mantle that we should never have lost—the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom,” he said on Friday.