The Conservatives may have won the general election but they are not the only people celebrating in the wake of the May 7th polls.
In fact, in many people’s eyes the real winner of the election was not even a proper politician.
Comedian Al Murray, in the guise of his character The Pub Landlord, may have garnered only 318 votes in the South Thanet seat that was also contested by one Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party.
But he was undeniably amongst those cashing in on the election. And unlike those punters who treated the election as just another sporting encounter and went on to claim their winnings from the bookies his pay-out has just kept on paying.
Murray’s campaign overlapped with a stand-up tour that sold to sell-out audiences. The £500 he paid as a parliamentary deposit was a small price to pay for some of the best publicity – and material – any comic could ever hope for.
What’s more, Murray’s reaction to the news that Mr Farage had failed to win a seat in Parliament was one of the stand-out images of the whole election. And he is still smiling… all the way to the bank!