1992 United Kingdom general election

BBC election night coverage, April 9, 1992: the Basildon declaration A lesson in how one early result can rewrite a night. Confident predictions had the Conservatives losing power, so when David Amess held Basildon, one of the first seats to declare, the studio mood shifted at once: it was the clearest early sign that the polls had underrated the Conservatives, and John Major went on to win. Rewatch it for the way presenters and pundits recalibrate in real time as a story they had prepared for falls apart.