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It looks like business as usual. Gordon Brown was back at the Treasury on Friday, squirming as a great gaggle of officials cheered his return. And Tony Blair once again balked at reconstructing the cabinet in his own image - despite promising his closest allies he would do just that only a few weeks ago - for fear of alienating his Chancellor.Mr Blair did not invite Mr Brown to shape his cabinet, but there was not a single appointment that could be interpreted by the Chancellor as an act of provocation. No Blairite cheerleader has been appointed to any of...

Muslims say they helped dent Blair majority Fri May 6, 2005 2:42 PM BST Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS By Tim Castle LONDON (Reuters) - Tactical voting by Muslim voters angry over the war in Iraq played a role in denting Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour majority in parliament, the Muslim Association of Britain said on Friday. "The results of the general election have clearly reflected the depth of frustration and anger throughout the country as to the government's position on Iraq," said the MAB, an umbrella group of about 400 Muslim organisations in Britain. Anti-Iraq war campaigner...

SATURDAY, MAY 07, 2005 Tony Blair's 'squeaker' There is nothing qualified about Prime Minister Tony Blair's history-making third electoral victory in Britain, the first time ever for a Labor candidate. In response to widespread reports that his party's reduced majority in the House of Commons foretells his likely early retirement from politics, Mr. Blair would be justified in quoting the words attributed to Mark Twain, "The report of my death has been greatly exaggerated." In electoral politics, a victory is a victory, and even with reduced numbers Mr. Blair's Labor Party has a clear majority. It is more than enough...

The British can be famously grumpy. No surprise there, you might think. Neither the food nor the weather is exactly conducive to a sunny disposition. And complaining has long been a favoured national pastime. But these days, with the economy performing well, and even the national sports teams winning on the international stage, you might have expected some lightening in the national spirit. No chance. In Thursday's election, it was a heightened mood of grumpiness that triumphed. For the second straight election, about four in ten voters did not bother to show up at the polls, many of them telling...

TONY Blair's comfortable victory in the British election completes the remarkable series of wins by the three amigos of the Iraq war. George W. Bush won in the US with an increased vote, John Howard won with a much increased vote and Blair won with a reduced margin. Blair's parliamentary majority, though, will still be the best non-Blair majority for the Labour Party since Harold Wilson in 1966. Blair's win must give Howard much heart. Iraq was a vexatious and difficult issue, but the plain truth is 70 per cent of the British electorate voted for parties that strongly supported...

The headlines everywhere scream "Blair reelected despite the fact that most people think he's horrible, hated, Bush's poodle, and has stinky aftershave!" -- Or, at least something along those lines. The fact that Blair probably won't get 40% of the vote is cited as proof of his unpopularity, mostly because of his Iraq stance, along with some domestic issues. As of Thursday night, it looks as if Blair of the Labor Party-- excuse me, Labour Party-- will get around 37% of the vote. Michael Howard of the Conservative Party is coming in at around 33% of the vote, and others...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The White House reacted cautiously on Thursday to the narrow third-term victory of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush's staunchest Iraq war ally. Blair's Labour Party won in Britain's national elections, but exit poll projections indicated his party suffered a sharply reduced parliamentary majority, an apparent rebuke for going to war in Iraq. Bush, who was leaving Friday for a four-country, five-day tour of eastern and central Europe, was expected call to Blair to congratulate him on the narrow victory, White House aides said. Commenting on the lackluster returns, a chastened Blair said, "We will have...

Gamble that was Howard's way FRASER NELSON POLITICAL EDITOR THE Conservatives took a leap in the dark with their 2005 campaign. They used guerrilla tactics, "dog whistles" and character attacks more vicious than anything used before. Today, they are analysing their gamble. Lynton Crosby, the Australian author of the campaign, was treated to a standing ovation as he addressed Central Office workers on Tuesday. His imported tactics seemed to bring the Tories back from the dead. But when asked later if he deserved the applause, he was sanguine. "I don’t have a clue," he said. "We’ll find out on Friday."...

How the system works in Blair's favour By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 06/05/2005) Tony Blair is set to be the first Prime Minister in 30 years to win an overall Commons majority with less than 40 per cent of the vote. In October 1974, Harold Wilson won with 39.3 per cent but had only a wafer-thin majority that soon evaporated. The last time a government had a working majority with less than 40 per cent was in 1922, when the Tories led by Andrew Bonar Law had a majority of more than 200 with just 38.2 per cent...

Thatcher still cool on Blair May 6, 2005 FORMER British prime minister Margaret Thatcher pointedly declined to pay tribute to Tony Blair today as he stood on the verge of matching her record of three successive election wins, saying history would be his judge. "I'm not quite sure of his place in history," she told reporters at an election social event in London, as exit polls predicted Blair's Labour Party would win a third straight term, albeit with a much reduced majority. "History will determine that. I wouldn't like to predict it." Thatcher, who turns 80 later this year, was...

Labour has lost 11 seats in London in the general election.Tories took Putney, Enfield Southgate, Ilford North, Wimbledon, Hammersmith & Fulham, Bexleyheath & Crayford, Hornchurch and Croydon Central. The Lib Dems seized Hornsey and Wood Green and Brent East, which it gained at last year's by-election. The hotly contested safe Labour seat of Bethnal Green & Bow was won by the Respect Party's George Galloway. London turnout was up 3% on 2001. But Labour held onto seats including Battersea and Finchley & Golders Green. The Tory's triumphed in south-west London's Putney when Justine Greening ousted Labour's Tony Colman. The seat...

Tony Blair won a historic third term as prime minister Thursday, but his Labour Party suffered a sharply reduced parliamentary majority in punishment for going to war in Iraq. A chastened Blair said "we will have to respond to that sensibly and wisely and responsibly." The outcome could set the stage for Blair to be replaced in midterm by a party rival such as Gordon Brown. As Treasury chief, Brown was widely credited for the strong economy that appears to have clinched Labour's victory, outweighing the bitterness many voters said they felt over Iraq. With 614 of the 646 House...

Ulster Unionist leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner David Trimble has lost his seat in Parliament, as his party's vote collapsed in the General Election.The Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party candidate David Simpson took the Upper Bann seat in Northern Ireland. Mr Trimble's defeat was a hammer blow for his party, which has seen a substantial swing across Northern Ireland to the DUP. Earlier, the DUP's Sammy Wilson captured Roy Beggs's seat in East Antrim, while nationalist SDLP deputy leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell sensationally gained South Belfast from the UUP. There was another DUP gain in Antirm South, and...

Politics is all local, especially at election time. But the "Little Britain" manner in which Tony Blair's enemies have exploited Iraq before today's election is a real disgrace. In their extreme zeal to try and prove that "Blair lied," his critics amongst the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats — and all the left-of-center, fashionable bien-pensant writers, actors and intellectuals of London — resolutely turn their face against the realities of Iraq and of the Middle East itself. Listening to the tone of the debate, you would think that there were no Iraqis out there and that "Iraq" was merely...

Within minutes of Michael Howard's announcement that he is to stand down as Conservative leader, David Davis, the shadow home secretary, was installed as firm favourite to replace him by the bookmakers.Ladbrokes have Mr Davis a 5/2 favourite to take on the role, while William Hill will offer odds of 3/1. Mr Davis, who last night defied the Liberal Democrat "decapitation" threat to his Haltemprice and Howden seat, contested the leadership in 2001. However, he fell at the first hurdle when fellow MPs did not give him enough backing to progress to the wider party vote. A former territorial SAS...

A series of big-hitting MPs from all sides have seen their careers stall during a night of election upsets.The biggest political casualty was David Trimble, the Ulster Unionist leader, who lost his Upper Bann seat to David Simpson of the Democratic Unionist Party led by the Reverend Ian Paisley. The defeat cast major doubt on Mr Trimble's future as Ulster Unionist leader. Education minister Stephen Twigg was one of three government members to lose, ceding Enfield and Southgate to the Conservatives. It had taken the seat from Michael Portillo in the Labour landslide of 1997. Junior constitutional affairs minister Chris...

Tony Blair may have secured a historic third term for the Labour Party last night but the reduction in the size of his majority will significantly change the way in which he is able to act.His power and his position in the party have depended almost entirely on the perception since his landslide victory in 1997 that he is a winner. In many parts of the country that has now been undermined. Last night's result could make it more difficult for the Prime Minister to stay in office for the whole of the next Parliament as he promised to do...

The BBC is reporting that Michael Howard is to step down as Tory leader. Nothing more yet, just a banner headline.

How long can he cling to power? by BENEDICT BROGAN, Daily Mail 06:25am 6th May 2005 A disheartened Tony Blair was left with his position in sudden doubt early today following the spectacular collapse of his political support. With his majority slashed, questions were being asked about his ability to deliver on his pledge to serve a full term before handing over to his successor. It leaves Gordon Brown facing the nightmare scenario of inheriting a party in crisis, with its power-base diminished and its support among voters on the slide. The Chancellor must now contemplate the prospect of taking...

The Labour Party just won the majority in Parliament. But it looks like the Conservatives have gained more seats. The election's not over yet so we'll have to see who gets the rest.