THE moment of truth has arrived.
It came slowly at first but as the extent of Labour's devastation of the Tories was finally realised at the Royal Festival Hall, centrepiece of Labour's victory celebrations, party workers exploded into life and six weeks of campaigning were put to one side as the party began at last.
Rotating spotlights, beaming Labour messages of "New Labour New Britain" on to the entrance of the hall on London's Embankment, transformed a normally dull building into what resembled a film set. While banks of red floodlights lit a path for party workers arriving for "a night we'll always remember", the Labour leader, Mr Tony Blair, delivered his thanks to party workers from outside the hall. Promising not to let them down in government, Labour's victory had been a vote for the future. Then he paused, beamed his megawatt smile and disappeared inside to join the party.
All the cautious talk from the Labour camp during the last six weeks, indeed the past two years, that victory could not be assured "until the fat lady sings", evaporated as party workers celebrated with the Virgin boss, Richard Branson, actor Trevor Nunn and various darlings of film, art and business. They were cautious to begin with, they didn't want to crow, but when they acknowledged victory they did it with some gusto.
Singing the Labour campaign song, D:Ream's Things can only get better, two party workers stumbled into the Festival Hall, stopping only to declare, with some conviction: "We know it's going to be our night and we're going to make sure we enjoy it."
It mattered less to the revellers outside that they could not join the celebrations inside than the fact that Tony Blair had secured victory ending 18 years of "Tory misery".
Just minutes after the polls closed at 10 p.m., predicting a sensational landslide for Labour, theatre buffs emerging from the Queen Elizabeth Hall next door seemed surprised by the "razzmatazz", the "spectacular" of the event unfolding before them. "Oh my gosh, just look at all that," exclaimed a woman pointing to the floodlights beaming Labour messages on to the Embankment.
One woman voter, sounding perhaps the only note of gloom outside the hall, said the victory had come "two elections too late". The Labour faithful inside would no doubt disagree. For them the party, and power, were just beginning.