As polls closed on 7 May Ed Miliband was the bookies’ favourite to become prime minister, albeit in a coalition of some sort and I was hopeful of being appointed minister for local government.

All my working life I have been involved with local government, championed local democracy and made the case for localism. It goes back to being a councillor in my early twenties at a time when local government was increasingly swamped with initiatives from the centre.

Later, I worked at the Local Government Association and prior to becoming an MP, was chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, where we argued for very radical devolution across a wide range of public services and competences, including in the criminal justice system and the welfare system.