2015 in review: Shock general election victory on voting day

But when the votes were cast the Tories stormed to victory, taking 331 seats and claiming a slender majority in the Commons.

Even David Cameron didn't see it coming, and the subsequent shockwaves saw Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage all quit their leadership posts, although the latter would 'unresign' after a few days of reflection.

This was an election that saw the complete collapse of the Lib Dems – left with just eight MPs, and the spectacular rise of the SNP in Scotland to a position where it now sends 56 MPs to Westminster.

It also saw millions of people voting for UKIP, although the party gained only one seat.

The Conservative victory was some achievement. Only once in living memory has an incumbent Government increased its majority, and Mr Cameron could be forgiven for bearing the demeanour of the cat that had got all the cream when the results were announced.

But this was also a year when he became embroiled in controversy after repeating a claim that Tory peer Leon Brittan was as 'close to evil as any human being could get'.

Back in May Mr Watson held his seat in the General Election by a landslide, winning 50 per cent of the vote and increasing his margin by 3.7 per cent in the process. With the Labour Party reeling from a heavy defeat, he set about on an 18-week campaign for the party's deputy leadership position.

His tilt was endorsed by Hugh Grant and backed financially by JK Rowling.

More importantly 174 constituency Labour parties came on board – more than twice the number backing his nearest – and more even than the numbers who supported Jeremy Corbyn for the top job.

September saw his first major speech as deputy leader as he closed the Labour Party conference. Mr Watson used his time on the podium to appeal for unity following Mr Corbyn's controversial election as party leader. He also poked fun at the Lib Dems, comparing them to a Bananarama tribute band at one point.

But then came the storm. Mr Watson has spent years bidding to expose sexual abuse committed by those in positions of power. His pursuit of an accusation of rape against Leon Brittan continued after his death in January, by which point police has decided not to proceed with the case against him.

After repeating a claim by an alleged sex abuse survivor who described the peer as 'as close to evil as any human being could get', Mr Watson was made to give evidence to a Home Affairs Select Committee.

He said he regretted his comment and apologised to Lord Brittan's widow, saying his use of the phrase was 'unnecessary'..

Mr Watson also spoke out in favour of the Freedom of Information Act. He said the legislation, which played a major role in uncovering the MPs expenses scandal, should be 'strengthened and extended, rather than watered down'.

For him it was something of a double celebration. Defying the pollsters to form a tight majority was one thing, but his party's performance also served as an affront to the Tories who thought he'd well and truly blown it.

And of those there were plenty.

It was an immaculately well fought campaign. The party's strength on the economy had seen record numbers of jobs in a time of great austerity – and try as it might Labour could not reassert its own economic credibility.

Former coalition partners the Lib Dems were summarily dismantled as the Tories successfully targeted their seats, while in-fighting was kept to a minimum as the Eurosceptics were placated by the prospect of a referendum.

Above all the party was able to convince enough of the electorate that David Cameron would be a better leader than Ed Miliband. The run-up to the election saw four TV debates, one of which was broadcast live back in April.

The two-hour event in Manchester gave the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru the chance to showcase their skills in front of an audience of millions.

They clashed – sorry, make that squabbled – over the NHS, rowed over immigration and talked themselves around in circles over the deficit.

By the end of it all the Prime Minister rammed home his 'we're the only party you can trust' message, despite having to deal with a persistent heckler in the audience.

It was the night that the coalition came to an acrimonious end as Nick Clegg came out all guns blazing with a series of scathing attacks on the Tories over education and taxes.

Meanwhile Ed Miliband adopted the Lib Dem leader's 2010 tactic of talking directly to the viewers at home rather than anyone in the studio.

But to many viewers the most impressive display on the night came from Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP leader was certainly no rabbit in the headlights, her forceful performance no doubt contributing to her party's success the following month.

Election night itself was horrendous for Labour and the Lib Dems.

All but one Labour seats in Scotland went, including the one's belonging to Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy and campaign manager Douglas Alexander.

To the amazement of almost everyone even shadow chancellor Ed Balls lost his seat.

In hindsight the omens were bad from the moment Ed Miliband botched a speech at the Labour party conference the previous November.

He forgot to mention a prepared passage about the deficit – a major issue that the Government had failed to get to grips with for the previous four years.

But when the speech was sent out to the media the passage was there in full. It was a major party blunder that gave a glimpse of what was to come.

But six months later many at Labour headquarters were preparing to claim victory, but they were left picking up the pieces of the party's most abject defeat since 1983.

But Labour's troubles were nothing when compared to the Tories former coalition partners the Lib Dems.

The party went from 57 to eight seats, on what Nick Clegg called a 'cruel and punishing night'. Several senior politicians and ministers lost their seats, including Danny Alexander, Ed Davey and Vince Cable.

Nick Clegg held his Sheffield Hallam seat, but within hours of the general election result he had quit as party leader. The outgoing deputy Prime Minister described the defeat as 'the most crushing blow to the Liberal Democrats since our party was founded'. He was replaced by former party president Tim Farron.

Of course, Mr Clegg wasn't the only one to bail out of office.

A crestfallen Ed Miliband fell on his sword sparking a Labour leadership battle.

Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn and Liz Kendall all threw their hats into the ring for the month-long contest between August and September.

Leftie Mr Corbyn was an outsider at the start of the campaign, but by voting day he was long odds on and duly elected in a landslide in the first round of voting.

Many within the party – including former leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – had expressed fears that his election could open up divisions within the party, leaving Labour unelectable.

And the first major rift was not long in coming. The Commons vote on Syria saw 67 Labour MPs defy their leader and vote to increase UK air strikes on Syria in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Mr Corbyn had agreed to give MPs a free vote on the issue, a decision condemned as 'deplorable' by the Stop the War campaign group that he used to chair.

The group also attacked Hilary Benn, whose passionate speech during the Syria debate drew applause and cheers from all sides of the House, while several Labour MPs who voted for military action were subjected to online abuse.

It wasn't to be Mr Corbyn's only test during his short reign up to now.

In November his head of policy Andrew Fisher was suspended from the party following complaints that he campaigned for a rival party in the general election.

Mr Corbyn backed his man to the hilt – a hugely unpopular move with many party members. But he did celebrate a victory as the year drew to a close when Labour increased its share of the majority in winning a major by-election in Oldham West and Royton.

On a local level it was a case of 'as you were' for the most part, although Rob Marris bucked the national trend by winning back the Wolverhampton South West seat from the Tory's Paul Uppal.

Mr Marris would go on to propose a controversial assisted dying law, in a bid to see terminally ill people given a choice to be assisted to end their lives.

But the bill was decisively rejected in the Commons.

There was drama before the election when Afzal Amin quit as a candidate for Dudley North after footage emerged of him in discussions with former EDL leader Tommy Robinson.

He was accused of scheming with the far right party to announce an inflammatory march against a new 'mega-mosque' in Dudley and then take the credit for defusing the tensions.

The would-be MP was filmed by former EDL leader Mr Robinson, who blew the whistle on the plot because he objected to being used as a pawn.

He was subsequently replaced by Les Jones, who lost out in the polls to incumbent Ian Austin.

There were also local elections this year.

The race was most exciting in Walsall, where none of the main parties were left with a clear majority once the polls closed.

Labour were left with a slim majority of two seats over the Tories, but Conservative stalwart Mike Bird took over as council leader by one vote after gaining support from UKIP and the Lib Dems.

The Tories also strengthened their position in Staffordshire. In Sandwell Labour took all 24 seats that were up for grabs, leaving them with 71 of the borough's 72 seats.

The Wolverhampton elections featured a remarkable campaign from Tory Zahid Shah who attempted to rap his way into power in the St Peter's ward.

The ploy failed and overall Labour won 16 seats, gaining one from the Conservatives and one from the Lib Dems, while the Tories held four.

The city lost one of its great ambassadors this year. Former mayor and long-time councillor Bert Turner died in October following an illness.

Labour retained its grip on Dudley Council but saw its majority fall, as the Tories won five seats.

As the year drew to a close the thoughts of our council leaders turned to December's local spending review.

After five years of cuts, cuts and more cuts to services, no one was expecting anything other than a further sharpening of the axe.