expensive. $179.4 million, for "the women of algiers." i'm antonio mora thank you for joining us, have a great night. appear in the british elections nothing the pollsters predicted happened. the conservatives, led by david cameron, have a majority in the new parliament. the labor party lost not by a whisker, but by 100 seats. the u.k. independence party got a lot of votes, but one seat and the scots got a landslide to a party that wants out of the u.k. with big questions, is this a kingdom divided. it's tonight's "inside story".

welcome to "inside story", i'm ray suarez. opinion poll after opinion poll betrayed a tight election in britain, with no major party getting the majority of votes or seats. pundits indulged in game of thrown-style intrigue imagining what david cameron or labour leader ed miliband would have to promise partners. when the results came in conservatives won in a route, taking a majority of votes and seats in parliament. the election set the table for browsing battles for one of the america's closest friends in the world. here is al jazeera's john terrett. >> reporter: u.k. elections are held on a thursday - meaning friday is hang over day. this year's hang over was bigger

than usual for three key party leaders. >> i'll be resigning as leader of the liberal democrats. >> i'm standing down as leader of ukip. >> it's a disappointing and difficult night. >> reporter: no one in britain saw this coming - or more accurately the pollsters failed to predict this. a working majority of 4 seats in the house of commons for david cameron. neither did any see this the scottish nationalists a fringe party, hoovering up all but three the seats in scotland. the scott nats are the third largest party, held for years by the liberal democrats. many think a vote on scottish independence is looming. british elections are so different the the british people

vote in a booth, marking a cross against the name of a party candidate they like the best. using a chubby pencil. there's not a lever in site. there's no corporation of people no super pacts. no vicious campaign tv ads. it's done and dusted in 40 days. why should americans care? after all, britain is a tiny island in the northern atlantic. for a start. beyond angling for independence they may have a history of spending for the nuclear submarine fleet near glasgow. prime minister david cameron with a working majority promises a referendum on leaving the european union. britain is a member of n.a.t.o. standing shoulder to shoulder the u.s. on the war on terror. there has been a special relationship twine britain and the united states stretching back 70 years. here he is four years earlier,

proving that he's a u.s.a. fan. >> the british and american people will, for their own safety, and for the good of all, walk together in justice and in peace. [ clapping ] >> reporter: today the special relationship means close political, military economic and cultural ties. president regan and margaret thatcher were close working to bring down the iron curtin and president bush andtone blair were partners. arguably all that waned a little. now britain has a new conservative government to lead it over the next five years, and the u.s. will soon have a new president. there'll soon be two english speaking democracies, both world class police headquarters, with new teams at the top.

both facing uncertain futures joining us from new york is al jazeera's john terrett. john, let's take a look at the weekend post mortems, have the pollsters talked about how they could have gotten it so wrong. >> all i can tell you the radio takes you and i worked for, l b.c. fully staffed because they expected to have a minority leader seeking partners and it did not happen. i hope you are not seeking a full answer i don't think anyone nose what happened. what i think happened is there's a class of voter, known as the shy tory telling you it's a dinner party on the saturday night saying, "yes i vote labor", "yes i vote democrat", whereas in the voting booth they vote conservative.

the british people are asked to vote locally, you pick the local candidate, and then the party with the most number of candidates becomes the government of the day. what happens here is people couldn't help but look at the national level. they saw the labor party taken to the left away from where it was when tony blair ran the party. they look at the liberal democrats, revolveing around tuition fees and they saw fuel coming down the economy coming around after the global collapse, let's go with the better the devil you know. there's a precedent. it happened in 1992. fighting an election and polls said labor would win it. in the end it was like last thursday night. major with a majority of 31. cameronway majority of four.

he can call on the party, who has eight seats. he kind of has a majority of 12. >> we saw in the report, nick clegg, leader of the lib dems and also the labour party resigning their post. looking at the two major parties, major players in british life, plus are they in ruins now. i mean what are they for? >> i think the liberal democrats are in a terrible state. they have more than 50 seats in the previous parliament down to eight. labour is a major force, wiped out in its homeland scotland. they are in a terrible state and will have to spend time finding direction and choosing a leader. they have time. the british parliament runs for five years there's time for the

two parties to sort them out. everything is cyclical, and they'll rise again. for now, i don't think anyone can begrudge david cameron his success, but do you know the clock is ticking. he has a working majority of four. it's not much. people have a habit of dying and moving on. that majority could be whittled away quickly. are we counting down to the referendum on staying in the european union. >> that is something i see britain changing because david cameron is promising a referendum for the british people to leave the european union. that means if the vote to mean the union, that there'll be extra pressure for scotland to breakaway from the u.k. the scots did well last thursday. they've been buoyed by that. if they do well at the next

elections, they'll be buoyed further. should there be a vote there'll be a vote for independence for scotland. the second one, and we could, at the end of a five year parliament have a different u.k. and potentially without scotland john terrett breaking it down for us. good to talk to you you. is britain on the verge of becoming a different country, one less tied to the united states, with a smaller military footprint and a smaller role in world affairs. the fallout from the british election is tonight's "inside story". stay with us.

welcome back to "inside story". it was more than a decade after

the european union was formed before the u.k. decided to join. in almost half a century since the application to join there has been skepticism about integrating into europe, versus standing outside it. the argument inside britain will continue now that david cameron will lead a new government. he promised a referendum on imember job. john brown is a member of the independence party or ukip. welcome to inside story. >> thank you. >> is this a time of reckoning for your country - yes, there has been a decisive victory for the conservatives. it seems like a lot of questions remain to be answered. >> yes, it is a time of reckoning. i think the sweeper for the conservatives - i take john kerry's remark about shy

conservatives. overall, it was a revulsion and resistance to socialism, giving a majority to the conservatives. now, with david cameron granting a referendum on the european union, which is political. when britain voted to go in. it was the economic community, it was nothing like the european union, that is why britain has been resisting. i think he'll grant the referendum when he promised a cast-iron guarantee. i think he'll give to this time. it will not be a clean referendum like the swiss has, where the government is not permitted to use people's money, it will be a dirty referendum where a taxpayers money will be used, and ministers out on the polls trying to convince people to stay in the european union.

he'll use the scottish vote to stay in 56 votes, translating into a lot of people wanting to stay in the european - or go in the european union from scotland. after that i think he will basically give scotland his independence and therefore, get rid of 59 of which 58 are socialist seats out of the english parliament, now called the british parliament. he will build in almost a conservative majority in england let's talk about ukip the party you helped found. it was one of the big stories of the spring election season because it gathered a lot of sentiment of misgivings high levels of immigration to britain, we were having a similar debate and controversies in the united states. tell us about ukip, and how it managed to get almost out of

nowhere one out of eight votes cast in the election. >> well, it started in trying to get britain out of the political union of the european union and led by a charismatic leader nigel farage who i think will be voted back as leader although he offered to resign. in the last election it is the largest u.k. party in the european parliament. that is not proportional representation where minorities are represented. in a first past the post system hike in the united states it's difficult. and you gip polled about 13% -- ukip polled about 13% of the vote going into the election. amazingly, it held on. supporters were loyal. they didn't flood back to the party from which most came. they were loyal to ukip giving it a 13% vote, around 4 million

people. it's a major force, and that is 4.3 times larger than it was at the last general election. ukip is growing, and particularly under nigel farage, and will be a major force to deal with on immigration, it's a nondiscriminatory immigration policy, with the only provinceo being that you speak english, and no one comes in without someone leaving, one out, and there's space for one to come in. immigration, the major parties misled the british public about the level of immigration. i mean something like 10 times what they said it would be. the british people are upset because it's obvious straining social security overstraining health systems housing, all the things that the state is providing have been overtrained

as immigrants were given preference to british people on the list for years for a council house, for example. ukip got one seat in the new parliament. as you mentioned, got an enormous percentage of the vote. does that kind of thing operate to pull the conservative party slightly to the right on immigration matters, even though ukip got one seat? >> yes, i think it does and i think we have seen a most interesting thing happen. boris johnson, tipped to be the successor of david cameron, is now - david cameron put him in the cabinet, but without portfolio, so he has the chance to exercise his job as mayor of london. it's likely that boris johnson will be the next leader of the conservative party, and he's far more ukip friendly and a great

possibility of bringing the thatcher it wing of the party, which is basically ukip back into the conservative party and building the conservative party plus if david cameron gives scotland independence 56 seats of socialism would have vanished. i think you are headed for a conservative england, but unfortunately, if we stay in the european union, it won't be one england, it will be split into nine region, reporting to brussels. it makes up 12 regions, reporting to the european union. england will no longer exist. this is a huge influence on defense and, asson john said the trident miss ill system because

they'll have to work out not just what the president of the united states will do but what will the u.k. do. and also n.a.t.o., britain, shoulder and shoulder second to the united states with influence, that will now start to continue to ebb away towards germany. and the financial center in london will continue to eb towards the european union. they have the code napoleon london new york singapore, hong kong bahrain, they operate on the anglo saxon system as does new york. we have a problem heading in that direction and london losing influence in the financial world. john brown is a long-time member of the british parliament for winchester. thank you for joining us on "inside story". the long-standing alliance between the u.k. and the united states has been called the special relationship. a recent u.s. ambassador to the

u.k. joins us to talk about whether the special relationship will stay special after the surprising election. you're watching "inside story".

you're watching "inside story" on al jazeera america joining me now is a former united states ambassador to the u.k. he was america's top diplomat in london during the obama administration from 2009 through 2013. welcome to "inside story". . >> thank you we heard from john brown, sort of a nightmare scenario for the future of a very old and deer friend of the united states - the u.k. which was dismembered, broken up and

disappears into europe. what do you agree with that? >> i totally disagree. i don't think the scenario that he put forward will come forth. i think that one, there won't be nine regions reporting to brussels. there's a lot to be played out with the snp, the scottish party. i think that cameron, who will give a referendum will campaign against the referendum. people, when they start looking at it will realise that one in five jobs in the u.k. relate to the e.u. so there's a lot of water to go under the bridge ray. i don't think the scenario that mr brown gave is realistic, it's a rite wing ukip scenario that i don't think will happen over the last 25 years the british have been stalwart allies of the united states in

most of its military braigss around the world - gulf war, the first one at the beginning of the '90s. the operations in the former yugoslavia. the war in iraq, afghanistan, and with rising dismay the british public watched as their men came home and flag-draped caskets. domestic opposition grew is the u.k. still the sail reliable partner going forward that it's been over a quarter century. the judgment of military people that i spoke to that it is diminished. they have an army today that is smaller than napoleon they are online to get an aircraft carrier, but don't have one. on the other hand they have extremely special operation troops. they are mind sweepers in the streets are superb.

i think the real answer is, from what the generals tell me that they are a reliable ally "if we have to go in one place, if yes have to go in two places, then that's a big question mark." i think with the recovery of the economy in the u.k. and when the chancellor comes out with the budget, i don't think we'll see more defense cuts we may see an upward tick in certain areas. the prime minister during john kennedy's president say famously suggested to the young american president into a britain shrinking back to the empire could be greece to america's home. could britain be that a small country part of a european alliance, and no longer one able to throw its weight around in the world? >> they say that the brits pump

above their weight. i suggest that they still do that. will they still do it it's a legitimate question to be asked. we'll tell you in the four years that i was there, the first call that the president made any international crisis or advice went to 10 doesn't. the relationship, particularly - i was there with two governments. i saw brown and damn rob ron. it was very -- david cameron, it was very close. we had an official dinner at the white house. the answer to your question is has the u.k. shrunk. forced by economic conditions. will it no longer be a major player. it's hard to say. right now the major player on economics is germany. germany has no troops, they

don't participate in afghanistan, in libya. so when you look at - and the brits did on both of those, to a great degree. it's a legitimate question. my gut kels me we'll be there when we need them. >> a special relationship is it as much sentimental as practical. is it important to have the western european outpost that looks rest to washington as to brussels. >> i suggest the sentimentality of that goes away as ages change. new generations come in they don't have the same feelings i know our greatest advocate in the e.u. is the u.k. they are carrying our water on trade and in certain areas, as well as others. they are the main one. i think that - do you want to know what rogers says "my death

is premature" i think it's premature, is there warning signs up absolutely. but the special relationship does exist. i can tell you there was so many moments in time whether i got a phone call at 3:30 in the morning from the situation room to tell me to wake up the prime minister, we just killed osama bin laden. it's there. the feeling is there, and as they say, we are common language separated by two countries. o thank you for joining us on "inside story". i'll have final thought in a minute on two people divided by a common thread. stay with us.

early in my career i worked as a reporter in britain for british and american newsagencies. that experience taut me a valuable less job, that the people in britain are not just like us with a few different names for every day objects of

the tories are not just republicans, what people mean talking about social class, fair play and others, had different meanings. even as the country got richer and the state sold off their holdings holdings. i sometimes catch myself when i equate british natural life to what is happening here in america. complex, multinational britain may be dealing with long postponed business it's been avoiding since it was cobble d together as a country in 1707. send me your thought, follow me or visit facebook. tell me about your own experience. we'd like to here it. thanks for joining us on "inside story". see you next time i'm ray

suarez. a saudi-led coalition pounds houthi led positions with an imposed ceasefire less than 24 hours away hello, i'm darren jordan with the world news from al jazeera. also ahead the international organization for migration calls on governments to find those stranded at sea. >> european ministers tried to end a stand off over greece's debt. plus... >> 150 million