BBC POST UK GENERAL ELECTION BRIEFING 09/05/15

The dust settles

The face of British politics has changed, and some of its characteristics will take shape more clearly over the next few days. David Cameron has the task of choosing his first all-Conservative Cabinet - presumably a more enjoyable task than his previous experiences of fitting together the coalition jigsaw. Nicola Sturgeon has been giving more details of how the massive new cohort of SNP MPs will approach Westminster. Labour, the Lib Dems and UKIP, meanwhile, face the task of rebuilding after varying degrees of disappointment - starting with three leadership contests.

A divided nation "Above all I want to bring our country together," David Cameron revealed after the result, "to reclaim a mantle we should never have lost - the mantle of one nation, one United Kingdom." Looking at the political landscape from Land's End today is very different to the view from John O'Groats. A sea of Conservative and Unionist blue dominates the scene across much of England, while a field of SNP nationalist yellow stretches to the horizon and beyond from the north. David Cameron's greatest challenge is to prevent the union he supports being torn apart by mutual resentment - resentment from Scotland at a Westminster government dominated by English Tories, and resentment from England at the preferential treatment people think is being given to the Scots. Those who assumed the future of the Union had been safeguarded by the Scottish referendum must think again. Read more > Mark Easton Home editor

Cameron's Cabinet: Continuity and change David Cameron was greeted by staff on his return to No 10 Following his unexpected outright victory in Thursday's election, David Cameron will spend the weekend choosing ministers for his Conservative cabinet. We already know that four big jobs will stay the same: Chancellor George Osborne, Home Secretary Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. The PM will need to fill three senior posts previously held by ousted Lib Dems - chief secretary to the Treasury, business secretary and energy secretary. And he has lost one of his most high-profile female ministers in Esther McVey, who was defeated in Wirral West. Read more >

Lammy: A new generation should "step up" Lammy looks at Labour leadership bid David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, has become the first Labour name to publicly discuss standing as leader following Ed Miliband's resignation. He said he would consider running if colleagues want him to do it. Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Chuka Umunna are all seen as potential frontrunners, but have not yet said publicly if they will stand. Read more > The 56 SNP MPs - and Sturgeon - in Edinburgh Sturgeon turns her gaze to SNP strategy Nicola Sturgeon gave a speech at a photocall for the new intake of SNP MPs, in which she set out how her party would approach the next five years. She specified it "will not be business as usual when it comes to Westminster's dealing with Scotland" and that their priority was to put its anti-austerity agenda "at the very heart of Westminster". Read more >

What difference would PR have made? "The time has come for real, genuine, radical political reform," Nigel Farage said after losing his bid to take South Thanet. He was highlighting what some people see as a mismatch between vote share and seats held: UKIP received 3.9 million votes but won just one constituency under the UK's first-past-the-post voting system. The Greens won more than a million votes but just one seat. But what would have happened under a proportional representation system? Read more >

Interactive: Turnout and party strength These interactive maps show the share of the vote won by each party regardless of whether they won in that particular seat. Read more > Number of female MPs rises by a third About 29% of MPs are women - up from 23% before the election. This represents the largest increase since 1997. Read more >

More features and analysis

Correspondents' analysis: The result nobody saw coming - BBC political editor Nick Robinson How David Cameron's Conservatives won it - BBC campaign correspondent Jonny Dymond Apocalypse now... what next? - BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor The election and the economy - BBC economics editor Robert Peston How did the pollsters get it so wrong? - BBC political research editor David Cowling Features: Which seats changed hands? Mapping Scotland's dramatic change 20 things you may have missed from the election