Clegg and Cameron's piece of luck

Never before in the history of British governments have so many ministerial jobs been distributed among so few MPs.

Out of 55 Lib Dem MPs, 20 will get government jobs.

Had Lembit Opik not lost his Montgomeryshire seat, it would have been difficult not to give him a job. He is, after all, one of only three Lib Dem MPs that more than 10% of the public would recognise. (The other two being Nick Clegg and Vince Cable - though Nick Clegg is a latecomer to that list.) (At a pinch we'd give you Charles Kennedy as a fourth - his profile, like that of Lembit Opik, is boosted by regular appearances on Have I Got News For You.)

In many ways we'll all be sad to see Lembit go - but Lembit the in the Ministry? I don't think we're quite ready for that.

Cameron and Clegg will be grateful that in this way, as in so many others, their electoral stars were in perfect alignment.

Matthew Parris says in today's Times that the election worked out perfectly for Clegg and Cameron.

We'd be tempted to say they must have fixed the result - if only we could believe they were capable of fixing something so big and complex as a general election.