What a strange election. Suddenly it turned into a three-horse race. The media went bananas about a hung parliament with all the Tory tabloids launching a crazy attack on Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

The last opinion polls were still forecasting a Liberal Democrat surge to the extent that commentators hardly believed the exit poll that said we’d lost up to two million votes in a single day!

But it was true. It seems the hysterical bullying about the dangers of a hung parliament did the trick. People were frightened off in their droves and decided they couldn’t take the risk. So they voted against a hung parliament – but got one anyway.

By the time this piece appears it may all be sorted out or it may not. Like everyone else, I’ve seen the 24-hours news programmes with journalists endlessly interviewing other journalists about things none of them know. By today I’ll have been at meetings of Liberal Democrat peers in London when we might find out a bit more. I’m also hoping to find time for a cup of coffee with the new MP for Burnley!

I have to pinch myself at the thought of Burnley electing a Liberal Democrat. There’s no doubt that on a personal level, Gordon Birtwistle deserves his success. On a political level, it’s a miracle come true.

Tories won both the other local seats, of course. Janet Anderson always struck me as being a decent sort of person and on that level we may regret her loss to Parliament.

I would be dishonest if I said the same about Gordon Prentice. There are people in Pendle who pay tribute to his work for constituents.Others, including me, applaud his efforts on issues such as countryside access and the exposure of Lord Ashcroft.

Mr Prentice was one of the very best parliamentary operators in recent years.But I am glad to see him go. His relationship with the local council – over the whole 18 years, regardless of who ran Pendle – was abysmal.

I genuinely hope that new Tory Andrew Stephenson will instead emulate the likes of David Waddington and John Lee who, in different ways in the past, sought to work with everyone here in the interests of Pendle.