Former US political consultant Dick Tuck once famously said after defeat in a 1966 senate election “the people have spoken – the bastards”.

Last Thursday the people of the United Kingdom spoke. They said overwhelmingly that we want 5 years of cuts to benefits. They chose a referendum on Europe and they chose austerity. They chose the slick, well-oiled publicity machine, driven by Cameron and his Bullingdon club chums, and maintained by Rupert Murdoch and his right wing propaganda and lies. They chose to keep the bedroom tax and to force the disabled and dying back to work. They chose to give up their human rights for a man who eats hotdogs with a knife and fork, rather than trust a man who looks unsightly when eating a bacon sandwich.

They chose to crush Nick Clegg’s Lib-Dems, unable to forgive him for the lie he told students on the election campaign in 2010. They ousted chief secretary  to the treasury, Danny Alexander and senior statesman of the party, business secretary Vince Cable while voting to keep Clegg himself in his Sheffield seat, where he refused to debate his opponents and refused even more emphatically to support the people that elected him 5 years ago, signing off on cut after cut to Sheffield city council funding.

Douglas Alexander, who masterminded the Labour party manifesto was booted out of his seat in Scotland, being replaced by the youngest person elected to the house, 20 year old Mhairie Black. Ms Black is yet to complete the Politics degree she is studying for.

Mr Alexander shouldn’t take the insult personally though, all but one of Labours MPs were voted out giving the SNP a massive 56 newly elected MPs.

It was arguably the SNP surge that caused most damage to Ed Miliband’s campaign with Prime Minister David Cameron and numerous political commentators on TV relentlessly insisting Labour would have to do a deal to break up the union if they wanted to be in power (ironic considering top of the Tory agenda is likely to be disabling unions). Miliband insisted there would be no deal but even without Scotland turning its back on Labour, it would have been a big ask for Labour to form a government.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who many tipped to replace Miliband, lost his Morley seat to former beauty queen, conservative Andrea Jenkyns.  According to some reports this week the Labour party knew from the polls that Balls would lose but chose not to tell him.

If we are to believe those reports it seems that the party knew it was in for hiding at the polling stations yet told us again and again that they were confident of winning. Hours after Milibands inevitable resignation high profile Labourites were criticising the former leader. If they doubted him so greatly would the time to say so not have been two years ago? Hell yes!

Former Labour PM Tony Blair weighed into the debate claiming the party had veered too far to the left, insisting they should try to re-occupy the centre ground. While it was the centre ground that brought Blair and Labour it’s most successful period in recent political history it is the centre ground that makes voters think that all parties and all politicians are the same- untrustworthy.

Whether it is the circles I move in, or that the Tory vote mainly came from down south I’m not sure, but I have only spoken to two people that have admitted to voting Tory. Both told me that they feel they have done OK under the last Tory Government (dismissing the Lib-dem influence completely it seems). They haven’t needed a food bank and don’t claim benefits so why should they care if Tories clamp down on the spongers.

One of them told me proudly that the Conservatives are the party of working people while Labour choses to defend the Jeremy Kyle guests.  They are in part correct of course. Labour did spend an awful amount of energy attacking the rich, distancing itself from business and trying to raise taxes for those that have done well for themselves, playing perfectly into the hands of Murdoch and his right wing news-papers.

Anyone who thought that politics would be off the front pages once the election was over will be sorely disappointed. Miliband and Clegg quit as party leaders before dinner time on Friday meaning we are to sit through two leadership circus’.

Many initially called for Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis to lead the party, claiming he was the most “normal” candidate to re connect with the labour faithful. He is one of the few politicians to have had a job outside politics. He was a major in British army.

Jarvis quickly ruled himself out of the race, saying his priority was his family and local politics, proving possibly that he is the most normal candidate after all.

Of the other front runners to lead the party, shadow education secretary,  Tristram Hunt and former solicitor Chuka Umunna seem to be favourites.

Historian Hunt told the Guardian this week that the party needs to win back the trust of the working class. He said “in too many parts of the North of England and the Midlands the electoral challenge was from Ukip”. While Ukip undoubtedly stole some ground in local elections the seats they were tipped to take in cities like Rotherham never materialised. Despite Rotherham facing huge challenges in the wake of the child abuse scandal the people of Rotherham chose to keep faith in Labour MPs such as Sarah Champion. Ms Champion gained a degree at Sheffield University, before working for charities St Luke’s and Bluebell wood. She increased her majority by over 3000.

In neighbouring Sheffield, Paul Blomfield MP for Sheffield central increased his majority by 17000. Mr Blomfield was voted 2015’s most inspiring leader in higher education.
Across the city, Labour candidate Louise Haigh won the Heely seat vacated by Megg Munn and in the prestigious Hallam ward Oliver Coppard threatened to overthrow Nick Clegg until the final days of the campaign.

Labour did not lose because it is too left wing, it lost because it lacked authenticity. Slick polished, rich, career-politicians telling the plebs that they are for us does not come across well. Instead of schmoozing the poor and attacking the rich Labour needs most of all to be honest.

If it is to gain power in 5 years-time it needs to elect a leader that we can believe and believe in. Working people need to believe that their rights will be protected and also that they are not grafting so that others can neither get rich off them or sponge off them.

There needs to be support of aspiration and determination of fairness.

The Green surge was in large due to the refusal of its party to indulge in the back biting and personal attacks that the other parties insisted on. We want a leader who has integrity and warmth but who also has the strength to stand up to Europe and Russia. If we don’t believe a word they say how can we expect Putin and Merkel to not to take their threats with a proverbial pinch of salt?

Talking of integrity, I fully expect Tim Farron to be the next leader of the Liberals. He comes across on TV as being genuine and makes himself available and approachable on social networking sites such as twitter.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Chuka Ammuna wins the Labour vote but they could do a lot worse than looking further afield from the Westminster bubble. Far too much of our politics revolves around our capital but little of it resonates with the rest of the country. Blaire, Brown, Miliband and Balls have had their day. Tomorrow is the age of hope. In the 5 or 6 days since the election 27000 new members have joined the Labour party ( a further 10,000 have joined the Lib-Dems). This is not a signal that the public has tired of the two parties but a sign that the electorate had tired of the Westminster machine.

The hope is now that the Liberals and the Labour party are strong in opposition. I hope they both chose leaders who can change politics and change the attitudes of people like my two friends who voted Tory because they’re alright and sod the rest.