Posted on 05/05/2005 2:09:15 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Tony Blair is on course to win an historic third term for Labour but with a much reduced majority, according to a joint BBC/ITV exit poll.
The poll suggests Mr Blair's majority will be reduced from 160 to 66.
The findings - based on 13,000 voters from 320 polling stations in marginal seats - were announced as polls closed in the 2005 general election.
Counting is now underway with the first results of the night expected shortly after 2300 BST.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Blair and his Chancellor of the Exchequer have an unusual relationship. When Blair ran for the party leadership, Brown agreed not to run and to support Tony. In exchange, Tony promised to make Brown Chancellor (#2 in power in the Cabinet), to give him extraordinary powers and eventually to retire and pass the leadership over to Brown.
The conventional wisdom is that if Labour wins convincingly Blair will serve most of the term and then turn it over to Brown. But if the win is narrow or there is a loss that Blair would turn it over to Brown soon.
Remember, this is a country where people talk about the Constitution, but nothing is actually written down. :-)
The DUmmies are happy; they think this result puts more pressure on Blair and 'third-way' MPs without giving power to the Tories.
What would Labour gain by replacing Blair? (sorry for the dumb question)
Thanks!
Thanks for posting that. I just switched it on.
Unfortunately from what I have read about him his favorite Americans are the Teddy Kennedy/John Kerry crowd.
I'd hardly call that good news if true.
Thanks for sharing what you do know. I guess we'll learn together.
He is very unpopular for running the country as his personal fiefdom, with concentration on PR rather than actual results.
This means that Labour's majority actually INCREASED by 100 seats.
5:05pm 05/05/05
Exit poll: U.K. Labour win, with 66 seat majority
By Steve Goldstein
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- An exit poll released by the BBC and ITV shows U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair's incumbent Labour Party winning with a 66 seat majority, a much smaller majority than his current majority in parliament. The result, if the exit poll proves acccurate, may put pressure on Blair to step aside in favor of Chancellor Gordon Brown. Keep yer pecker up, Petronski!!! (a bit of British lingo for ya there)(broad grin!)
No, they had a 160 seat majority, and they lost 100 of those.
OK, but specifically what does Labour want done, that Blair hasn't done?
I join you in that sentiment. Tony's pro-American and anti-terror stances overrule his liberal tilt for me (I do hope he is not pro-abortion though...that would be my one major regret).
Supporting a non-Conservative truly is a tough decision to make and hold. But Tony earned it in my eyes.
Labour has made a hash of a lot of things, including taxation - we've had 66 separate tax rises since Labour came to power in 1997.
The voters are finally either tired of Labour or angry at Labour.
Regards, Ivan
What do they know.. DU is full of 18-26 year olds and old fat hairy professors
From 160 to 66???
That's a lot
If Al Gore can win enough seats in the House of Florida he becomes king,meanwhile Clinton fiddles with women while Rome burns, soon Kerry's wife will end up like Sunny Von Bulow....this is all I know aout English politics ...except that they all eat bone marrow pie
"Tony's pro-American and anti-terror stances overrule his liberal tilt for me (I do hope he is not pro-abortion though...that would be my one major regret).
Supporting a non-Conservative truly is a tough decision to make and hold. But Tony earned it in my eyes."
Abortion isn't the hot button issue in the UK that it is here. Not even the Conservative Party is nearly as conservative as Americans assume that word to mean. I've known American democrats who got into conversations with UK "conservatives" and found themselves to be more conservative on many issues than the Brits who call themselves conservatives. The reason American conservatives tend to like Blair despite his liberal social positions is that his social positions don't affect America, while his support for America obviously does. If you care about social issues in the UK, though, Blair is a liberal.
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