* Rolling – actually, slightly lurching – coverage and commentary is here *

David Cameron will remain as Britain’s Prime Minister after a remarkable election night where Labour’s optimism spectacularly evaporated, with Ed Miliband’s discomfort emphasized by his party being all but wiped out in Scotland by a series of remarkable swings to the SNP, which saw the loss of Jim Murphy, Labour’s leader in Scotland, and Douglas Alexander the shadow foreign secretary.

The biggest Labour casualty of the night, though, was Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who lost his Morley and Outwood seat to the Conservatives by just over 400 votes.

“Any personal disappointment I have at this result is as nothing compared to the sense of sorrow I have at the result Labour has achieved across the UK, and the sense of concern I have about the future,” he said.

Pressure on Miliband’s own position grew swiftly as the extent of the party’s disappointment became clearer, to the point where a shortlist of potential successors was already being discussed. The Labour leader is set to make a speech at noon London time.

* UPDATE * Miliband said he was stepping down and that Harriet Harman would act as interim leader. Nick Clegg also resigned as leader of the Lib Dems after what he called “the most crushing blow to the Liberal Democrats since our party was founded.” 

An initial BBC exit poll at 10pm appeared to repudiate the final pre-election opinion polls – which showed the main parties neck-and-neck – by indicating that the Conservatives would win the most seats – 316, against Labour’s 239 – but would still be short of a majority.

But as the evening developed, it appeared that not only was that original exit poll broadly accurate, but analysts suggested the Conservatives could even secure their own working majority. Their previous coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, had a hugely disappointing night, losing their deposits in some early seats and battling for third place in several constituencies with UKIP.

The BBC later revised its projections to show the Conservatives within touching distance of a parliamentary majority.

In Cameron’s acceptance speech in his Witney constituency, he talked about governing for “one nation” and delivering on devolution pledges for Wales and Scotland, as well as a referendum on Britain’s role in Europe. He said:

This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative party. I think it has a positive response to a positive campaign about safeguarding our economy, about creating jobs, about our record in government over the last five years but above all our plan for the next five years, based on clear values of wanting to reward work in our country, that those who put in and do their best should find the system is on their side.

Meanwhile..

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** IN OTHER NEWS TODAY **

* WORLD * Friday marks the 70th anniversary of VE Day – the German surrender and the end of World War Two in Europe.

(YouTube/Nantchev)

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that the US military had begun training moderate Syrian fighters “at a foreign location” as part of anti-ISIS efforts.

A court in New York ruled that the NSA program for the bulk collection of phone records was illegal. The New York Times reports:

The court, in a unanimous ruling written by Judge Gerard E. Lynch, held that Section 215 “cannot bear the weight the government asks us to assign to it, and that it does not authorize the telephone metadata program.” It declared the program illegal, saying, “We do so comfortably in the full understanding that if Congress chooses to authorize such a far-reaching and unprecedented program, it has every opportunity to do so, and to do so unambiguously.”

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the decision was “being reviewed.” Orin Kerr writes at the Washington Post why the ruling, on Edward Snowden’s biggest leak, is “largely symbolic.” 

Hillary Clinton tweeted:

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* MEDIA * 

The Huffington Post marked its ten-year anniversary by, according to founder Arianna Huffington, “looking to the next ten.” She writes:

Above all, in the next 10 years we are determined to reimagine journalism with our What’s Working global initiative, taking it beyond the tired “If it bleeds, it leads” approach. We will of course continue covering the crises, the stories of violence, tragedy, dysfunction and corruption, but we’re dramatically increasing our coverage of stories of innovation, creativity, ingenuity and compassion, because we believe we owe it to our readers to give a full picture of what is happening in the world. At the moment we talk about media coverage inspiring a lot of copycat crimes. We also want to produce the kind of journalism that inspires copycat solutions.

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* SPORTS * Tom Brady’s camp pushed back over yesterday’s NFL report into the so-called “Deflategate” episode. Even as the New England Patriots quarterback himself said he was “still digesting” the report, his agent Don Yee said the report was a “significant and terrible disappointment” and “a sad day for the league.”

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* CULTURE * ABC‘s late night host Jimmy Kimmel said he would not broadcast a new show on May 20, the night of David Letterman’s final Tonight Show. The New York Times reports:

“I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show,” Mr. Kimmel said in an email. “Plus, I’ll probably be crying all day, which makes it hard to work.”

Also at the New York Times magazine, former Letterman writer Steve O’Donnell lists the Top Ten Letterman on-air moments, including Bud Melman welcoming travelers to the PABT, Warren Zevon’s final show and, of course, Dave’s monologue on the first show back after 9/11. Gems all.

Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert, who takes over from Letterman later in the year, made a great charitable gesture by offering to fund every grant request by a teacher in his home state of South Carolina, something that could cost the comedian up to $800,000.

(USA Today)