London: If this UK election exit poll is anywhere near right, Prime Minister Theresa May is finished.
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UK election: security dominates, but Brexit looms
Recent terror attacks have thrust security to the top of the campaign agenda, but Brexit and the economy are likely to come back as the make-or-break issues for a new administration.
If Labour's night continues to improve, she won't have even lasted a year in office. If the exit polls are right, she would stumble back into Downing Street with the echoing sound of knives being sharpened around her.
She rolled the dice, and she lost.
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May has only herself to blame. Her campaign has been flawed – from the start, when she failed to convince the country that it really needed an election.
She allowed her party to present a manifesto that cut social care for the elderly – the Conservative's core vote.
She claimed she was for "strong and stable" leadership, yet she ducked out of debates with her opponent – which made her look weak.
And at the end, after coming under pressure over the government's ability to guarantee the security of the nation against terror attacks, she responded by proposing to rip up human rights laws.
The electorate has passed judgement. Win or lose, she hasn't delivered on what she promised.
The question is – what now?
Well, first, we wait for the actual result. At the time of writing, it's early days. In 2015, the Conservatives were tipped to win a wafer-thin majority by the exit polls on election night, but ended up with a comparatively comfortable one by the time the sun rose the next morning.
But let's assume, for the time being, the polls are pretty much right.
On the exit polls numbers, even with the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats, a potential Labour government couldn't quite scrape together a majority in the House of Commons.
A minority Conservative government is the most likely outcome.
But who would lead this government?
May's authority has been shattered. There is already a school of thought that her party would prop her up for a couple of years to take the heat over the Brexit negotiations, then quietly sweep her away.
But it's hard to imagine how she could lead a minority government through tough fights, internally and externally (Brexit negotiations start within 10 days), with such damaged status.
Who could believe she could deliver on what she promised? How could she pretend that a parliament would definitely pass the final deal she struck with Brussels?
On the other hand, there is no obvious replacement. Boris Johnson is damaged goods, according to the consensus (then again, the consensus said tonight's outcome was unimaginable).
There is no obvious answer to this conundrum. But it must be solved, and solved fast, because the Brexit clock is ticking.
It may only be solved by another election – perhaps even before the end of the year.
And all this has assumed that the Conservatives limp back to power.
Labour defied the odds to do this well.
I'm writing this at the start of a long night.
It could end with Jeremy Corbyn holding the keys to 10 Downing Street.
This has been a couple of years of astonishing results in global politics, but Corbyn walking into Number 10 would rank high among them.
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