This 8 May is the beginning of the end of British politics as we know it | Martin Kettle

The certainties of the postwar myths that Churchill’s wartime leadership and his coalition government made possible have fallen away: it’s an irrevocable moment

There is a new political landscape in Britain. The two large parties that have dominated politics since the second world war no longer command the nation as they once did. Multiparty politics has simmered for decades, yet today it is the new reality, albeit distorted through the prism of an outmoded electoral system. There may not even be anything we can describe as British politics any longer.

That we are marking this moment on 8 May has a powerful resonance and symbolism. There is no date in the history of modern Britain that has a resonance like today’s. The arc of the Britain we inhabit today started long ago on one 8 May, reached its apotheosis a few years later on a second 8 May and, as the implications of the general election sink in, may now be at a point of no return on yet another 8 May.

Membership Event: Guardian Live: Election results special

This election has been a contest between parties which dream of a revived Churchillism