Elmo's antics and Alan Johnson's rage: strangest moments of election night

If you’ve been asleep and want to know what has happened in the election you’ll need our full results page. On the other hand, if you just want to the catch up with the moments that made people go “Hang on, did that just really happen?” during the night, look no further.

Nicola Sturgeon was quite pleased when Jo Swinson lost her seat

“It didn’t look very magnanimous, your reaction,” said Dermot Murnaghan, addressing Scotland’s first minister after Sky News showed a clip of Nicola Sturgeon celebrating Jo Swinson losing her seat as if it was Scotland scoring a 90+4 injury time winner in a World Cup final against England. “Understandably excited reaction,” said Sturgeon. “Commiserations to Jo Swinson,” she added, but you could see her heart wasn’t in it.

Elmo being a nuisance

British politics loves a joke candidate, and in Boris Johnson’s constituency Lord Buckethead and Count Binface were expected to be the centre of attention. But actually it was Elmo mugging in the background of Boris Johnson’s speech that stole the show in Uxbridge.

Earlier in the day an Elmo – the same Elmo? A different Elmo? Who knows? Who cares? – had made itself a nuisance with Jeremy Corbyn’s security before having to be carted off by police. It won’t be known as the Elmo election, but at least it brought a smidgeon of joy to some otherwise grim proceedings.

Stella Creasy’s tiny new baby

Newborn Hettie made her TV debut strapped to her mother, Stella Creasy, as the latter gave her acceptance speech after retaining her seat in Walthamstow. The local campaign had been fraught after the anti-abortion group Christian People’s Alliance had specifically targeted the then heavily pregnant Labour MP over her work to legalise abortion in Northern Ireland. Creasy gave birth a couple of weeks before the election, and Walthamstow will be represented by the UK’s first “locum MP” while she takes maternity leave.

Red wall ≠ Berlin Wall

“Labour’s ‘red wall’ is analogous to the Berlin Wall of a totalitarian state?” asked Andrew Neil quizzically, after Mark Francois, whom the Tories had kept well hidden during the campaign, popped up on telly to compare Labour losing some seats in the north of England to the fall of the German barrier in 1989. A sudden reminder of exactly why the Tories had kept him well hidden during the campaign.

Stanley Johnson v burqas

Last time out Stanley Johnson was claiming that as a nation we couldn’t spell Pinocchio. Inexplicably still booked on television, this time Johnson Sr got into a bizarre row during Channel 4’s election coverage by unexpectedly declaring: “If I was a female fighter jet pilot, I would expect someone to say don’t wear a burqa” – seemingly unaware that fighter pilots are pretty much covered up head to toe in any event. Johnson’s comments outraged his fellow guests Nish Kumar and Judge Rinder, as he went on to justify his views by claiming: “My grandfather could recite the Qur’an.”

Alan Johnson v Jon Lansman

The Momentum founder, Jon Lansman, was on the receiving end of an extraordinary broadside from the Labour grandee Alan Johnson as they appeared together during ITV’s election coverage. Accusing Momentum of peddling “student politics”, Johnson said: “I want them out of the party. I want Momentum gone. Go back to your student politics and your little left wing.” Corbyn “couldn’t lead the working class out of a paper bag”, the former home secretary added.

Tom Bradby sums it all up

This campaign was devoid of a hot mic moment like #bigotgate but right at the death it was ITV’s Tom Bradby who provided the closest thing to it. He thought the show had finished and that he was off camera. He wasn’t. Probably the most honest reaction of the night.