Reporting on 'once in a generation' election

Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham

IT felt quite strange humming along to Wizzard's 'I wish it could be Christmas every day' on the radio on the way to the Oldham counts, but was there more festive fascination on the way?

With this being the first December General Election in almost a century, and with seemingly everyone being focused on their materialistic approach at this time of year, it had the feeling of maybe a quiet count this time.

The 'full' signs at the Civic Centre car park indicated otherwise ahead of entering the Queen Elizabeth Hall itself, but once inside there, the mood did appear decisively downbeat, uncertain, with many clearly bracing themselves for unwanted news on the national scene.

Oldham has always been a Labour town through and through, so when the exit polls came through at 10pm, the atmosphere appeared to take another nosedive.

More experienced journalists than I were commenting that they had never seen an Oldham count so quiet.

Then, soon after the national exit poll had been somewhat digested, the news came through that Debbie Abrahams' Oldham East and Saddleworth seat was on shaky ground - there was a 61-per-cent chance that she was set to lose out to the Conservatives.

After significantly increasing her majority during the last two general elections, surely this couldn't be about to happen, could it?

That situation was now definitely going to be one to watch, and consequently added to the anticipation as the clock ticked past midnight.

Jim McMahon looked relaxed yet quite sombre as he conducted a couple of interviews on the press balcony - there didn't seem much expectation that his seat was in danger.

Up and down the country, however, the tell-tale signs were there.

By 2am Boris Johnson's Tories had gained five seats and Jeremy Corbyn's Reds had lost seven, so the writing was already on the wall.

Watching the live news feeds, words like 'oblivion', 'terrible', 'horrendous' and 'heart-breaking' can't have eased the increasing pain surely being felt by Mr McMahon and Mrs Abrahams.

They both got over the line in the end of course, albeit with much-reduced majorities, so little wonder there had been plenty of glum faces around the floor last night, and plenty of sharp exits as soon as the counts have been finalised and read out.

What's next for Labour, but more importantly what's next for Oldham's political scene?

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.