Miliband, Clegg and Farage: All Casualties of Cameron's UK Election Rout

Despite weeks of opinion polls predicting a tie, leading to a hung parliament, voters gave the Conservatives a clear majority, leaving both the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties in tatters.

For Ed Miliband, is was a devastating blow, having enjoyed a better reception for his performance in the run-up to the vote. He had battled against his brother, David, for the leadership of his party, which he won with the block vote of the unions. He did not have the full backing of his parliamentary colleagues.

Miliband failed to shake off the fact that his party was tarnished with being in charge at the time of the global credit crash, under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. David Cameron played up this fact just days before the election, brandishing the letter left by the outgoing Labour Treasury minister to the incoming coalition in 2010 stating: "I'm afraid there is no money."

Miliband's value was further damaged when his shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, lost his seat too.

Miliband also failed to rouse the electorate over his stewardship of the National Health Service. Labour was completely wiped out in Scotland, losing every seat it had to the Scottish Nationalists. He tweeted:

Labour blogger Mark Ferguson, the editor of Labour List, wrote: "I thought Miliband offered a chance to build a different kind of Britain. But the British people disagreed. They didn't buy what we were selling, how we sold it or who was selling it. In fact, all too many didn't know what we were selling at all.

"A party too isolated in terms of geography, mindset and pure human contact from the British people can never hope to prevail against a surprisingly resilient and resurgent Tory party — and a tidal wave of nationalism. If we stay trapped where we are right now, we'll lose again."

Liberal Democrat Collapse

Nick Clegg managed to hang on to his seat in Sheffield Hallam, but his party was wiped out, having lost 49 of his party's 57 seats. His party never recovered from joining the Conservatives in the coalition in 2010, when the Tories failed to win a majority.

Clegg became deputy prime minister in the coalition but was forced to renege on his party's pledge not to increase student tuition fees. This — and several other concessions — caused widespread anger among party members and thousands of students.

After winning his Sheffield Hallam seat, he said:

"I will be seeking to make further remarks about the implications of this election both for the country and for the party that I lead and my position in the Liberal Democrats when I make remarks to my colleagues later this morning when I return to Westminster."

Clegg told a news conference: "It is simply been heartbreaking to see so many friends and colleagues who have served their constituents so diligently, over so many years, abruptly lose their seats because of forces entirely beyond their control.

"The results have been immeasurably more crushing and unkind than I could ever have imagined. For that of course I must take responsibility and therefore announce that I will be resigning as leader of the Liberal Democrats. An election will now take place for a new party leader."

UKIP Fails to Make Progress

The leader of the anti-Europe party UKIP, Nigel Farage, failed to take the seat he was contesting in Thanet South.

He had already given notice that he would resign if he lost the contest. The only UKIP MP returned was Douglas Carswell in Essex, who had defected from the Tories to stand in a by-election in 2014. Another defector who stood as an MP for UKIP, Mark Reckless, lost his seat.