I’M stood next to Stewart Hosie as shrieking cheers reverberated around the Emirates Arena.
It's 10pm on Thursday night at the Glasgow General Election count. We glance over our shoulders and it's immediately clear it came from a group of Labour activists. It's the exit poll.
The SNP’s campaign director gets out his phone.
“I don’t believe that is what it’s going to be,” he says of the results, which predict that the party will win just 10 seats in Scotland and lose their status as the third largest party in Westminster.
Hosie tells a group of SNP spinners sat nearby: “Let’s wait and see. Let’s see if that’s what it’s going to be.”
The thinking right now is that it's perhaps a pessimistic estimate, limited by a small Scottish sample size.
But of course, it's going to end up even worse than that. It's a disastrous election for the party – returning just nine seats as Labour dominate both Scotland and UK-wide.
It's a shocker, stunning even the bookies who largely put the odds of the SNP returning that few MPs at around 8/1 – an implied probability of 11.1%.
The SNP would be wiped out of Glasgow and Edinburgh entirely, losing a number of high-profile MPs – including Alison Thewliss, Joanna Cherry and Tommy Sheppard.
But we didn’t know that then.
The stages of grief
At 10.20pm, the first ballot box arrived at the Emirates Arena from a nearby polling station and was dumped onto a desk (below).
The huge open space, built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was a frenzy of hushed activity, excitement and anxiety as the count began.
I noticed the sound of paper being unfolded and stacked in piles as I approached a smiling Labour MSP Pamela Duncan-Glancy (below), who told me nonetheless that it was still “ early days”.
“We're obviously not sure of any of the results yet,” she added.
A couple of activists told me the same – cautious optimism was the name of the game. Election observers from each party peered over and took count as best they could, reporting back to candidates on how they believed it’s going.
SNP candidate for Glasgow North, Alison Thewliss, was also observing (below).
She was previously MP for Glasgow Central – one of two constituencies which ceased to exist following boundary changes – and thus widely considered to have drawn the short straw.
“An exit poll is an exit poll,” she told me – but there seemed a bit of a resignation in her eyes.
It then didn’t take long for other SNP heads to slump.
Stewart McDonald – SNP candidate for Glasgow South – was looking over papers in the corner of the stadium with his team, looking panicked by around midnight (below).
SNP officials and activists started to dominate the smoking area.
The penny really dropped as the turnout across all six constituencies was announced just after 1pm.
The big shock – a paltry 47.06% in Glasgow North East. The highest turnout was in Glasgow South, which barely broke 60%.
“That’s where our vote has gone,” one SNP candidate said.
“Couldn’t have done anything more. If we’re in a mess, it’s not of my making.”
One SNP official nearby added: “It’s a big panic now. But we are where we are.”
It was mentioned more than once that the SNP Westminster group was feeling the brunt of Holyrood group "failure".
Other parties were largely observing as it all unfolded, although Scottish Greens activists were noticeably more optimistic when I spoke with them.
SNP candidate for Glasgow North East, Anne McLaughlin (above), was the first to concede defeat.
She sat in a circle with her team next to some gymnastics equipment.
“I’m more concerned about the overall picture for independence and what this is going to do," she told me.
“It'll be interesting to see how the new smaller group can make their voices heard down there. I think it's going to be extremely difficult.”
McLaughin added: “If I was going to be one of the 10 – or however many – I’d be thinking about what we can do to make our voices heard. And to make the points that we need to make because we will no longer have the speaking rights that we had.
“And that place (Westminster) will do anything to sideline independence-supporting voices.”
She also spoke of how sad it was, of course – not only for herself but all her staffers, who are now out of a job.
As I headed back to my desk for a cup of coffee, I noticed SNP activists handing out cupcakes emblazoned with the SNP logo (above).
There were nine left when I passed by, a premonition of sorts.
A foregone conclusion
The official announcements for all six Glasgow seats followed from 4am onwards, after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar arrived – flanked by cheering candidates and activists (below).
But it all felt like a foregone conclusion – a Labour victory lap.
First it was Maureen Burke in Glasgow North East, then it was John Grady, Gordon McKee, Patricia Ferguson, Zubir Ahmed and Martin Rhodes – all to jubilant cheers.
It was confirmed, Labour swept all six Glasgow seats. Duncan-Glancy told me it was “surreal”.
The Scottish Greens were noticeably boisterous as results were read out – particularly after Niall Christie in Glasgow South increased the party’s vote share by more than 10%.
He told The National: “It just shows the power of hard work here. We had just over 2% here five years ago, we’ve gone up by more than 10% in five years. We do that again we will be right on Labour’s coattails, so watch out in 2029.
“We’re on course for a record election at Holyrood, probably a record election at council level, and this is a record election at Westminster too. Labour are the big story tonight but they can ignore us at their peril.”
The SNP candidates were each noticeably emotional but humble in defeat, clapping the winners.
Thewliss was in tears (above) as her supporters cheered and chanted "Oh, Alison Thewliss" after her defeat was announced.
It was swiftly followed by cheers from Labour activists.
John Grady, who took Glasgow East, declared in his victory speech: "Many people have voted Scottish Labour for the first time, or the first time in many years.
“I will do everything I can to deliver on the trust people have put in Scottish Labour."
Speaking to journalists, Sarwar said he was “absolutely delighted” with his party’s performance and that he understands their “desire for change.”
Throughout the announcements, SNP councillor – and Anne McLaughlin’s partner – Graeme Campbell held up a copy of that day’s The National front page by the stage, which read “Change? What Change?”.
He said it was “very apt”.
