It has been a fantastic victory. We have shown we are the party of the future. This decade can see us as part of the governments of our country.

To run an effective political party you need a degree of tribalism, it's the glue that holds everyone together.

We've got obviously mixed results. No party goes into 2000 with a clear, comprehensive national victory from these off-year elections.

Over the course of the last parliament, as a party, we have been the real opposition over the big issues of the day ... and the Conservatives over that period have themselves flip-flopped on so many of those matters,

I believe it is only fair now to give our party members their say over my continuing leadership.

We congratulate Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles and we wish them all future happiness.