Cameron's biggest challenges: Keeping Britain together, and in the EU

THE results of the UK general election surprised not only the pollsters and the British public but even the participants.

Reliable reports suggest that broadly in keeping with what most polls predicted, even the most knowledgeable insiders of the victorious Conservative Party expected to win no more than about 290 seats - just over 30 short of an absolute majority in the House of Commons. The sobering prospect of a coalition government - either Conservative or Labour-led - was widely anticipated.

In the event, the Conservatives, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, won 331 seats, enough to form the government on their own. The other big surprise was the stunning performance of the Scottish National Party (SNP), which picked up 56 seats in Scotland, all but wiping out the incumbent Labour Party, which suffered heavy losses elsewhere as well. Some of the smaller parties - notably the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) - were marginalised.