I was in New York for the UK general election and had the luxury of watching the results at the leisurely time of 5pm onwards. I was as shocked by everybody when I heard the broadcasters' exit poll and watched in amazement as the results unfolded. I suspected that we might find ourselves in a 1992 scenario where Labour support had been overestimated and so I wasn't totally surprised that the Conservatives were the largest party, though I didn't expect them to get a small working majority.

What dawned on me the next day was how the last five years had been such a destructive ego trip by Ed Miliband. Labour's lurch to the left had alienated so many left of centre voters, particularly in the business community. I was heartened that his anti-aspiration agenda had been rejected by the Great British public - and I think the vast majority of UK landlords breathed a huge sigh of relief. The private rented sector had been threatened with three year tenancy agreements, indexed rent rises, a national register coupled with encouragement for local authority licensing. The tone was considerably anti-landlord and Miliband had ramped up the rhetoric on rent caps towards the end of the campaign.  

These back-of-an-envelope policies, driven by the likes of Alex Hilton from Generation Rent, had been panned by most property professionals so clearly not the right way forward to solve Britain's housing crisis and obviously a crude attempt to win votes. The message from the public was quite clear. Alex Hilton has now resigned and is moving abroad.