LONDON: Britain's Saturday newspapers said David Cameron's election win was a remarkable triumph of quiet conservatism, but leaves him facing battles to keep Scotland in the UK and Britain in the EU.
The Conservative centre-right prime minister's second term in office is set to be much tougher than his first, despite winning a surprise majority in parliament, the papers warned.
They also reflected on how the defeated centre-left Labour and centrist Liberal Democrat parties could rebuild after the vote, which saw both of their leaders resign in a matter of hours.
The Times said Cameron would need "every ounce of statesmanship" to surmount the challenges facing him in what he has pledged will be his last term in office.
"Britain's voters issued a crushing verdict on the record of two major national parties, handed power to a third and launched a revolution in Scotland," its editorial said.
The left-wing secessionist Scottish National Party (SNP) won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats.
Meanwhile the anti-European Union, anti-mass immigration UK Independence Party came third in the share of the vote (12.6 percent) but secured just one of the 650 seats.
"The forces behind this upheaval were shy Tories, boisterous Scottish nationalists and UKIP supporters whose protests will not go away," The Times said.
"They have been mobilised in defence of radically different visions of the British Isles.
"It is time for Mr Cameron to find his inner Churchill... his majority is slim and using it will not be easy. His real work starts now."
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