Blair's Party Loses Parliamentary Seat

[maddezmom]

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s governing Labour Party lost a parliamentary seat to an anti-war party and narrowly avoided defeat, according to vote results Friday.



The result is a further blow for Blair, whose popularity has slumped since the Iraq (news - web sites) war. Labour fared terribly in local council and European Parliament elections last month and some in the party question whether Blair, once their most prized electoral asset, has become a liability.


The Liberal Democrats, who strongly opposed the war in Iraq, finished first in Thursday's balloting with 10,274 votes in Leicester, a city in central England with a high Muslim population. Labour was second with 8,620 votes and the Conservative Party had 5,796. Labour narrowly held onto another parliamentary seat, in the nearby city of Birmingham.


The two by-elections followed the publication Wednesday of a report exposing widespread British intelligence failures on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=2&u=/ap/20040716/ap_on_re_eu/britain_election

[cal04]

1. Labour saw its huge majority of 11,618 almost wiped out

VOTERS DESERT LABOUR

As predicted, voters have delivered a huge snub to Tony Blair and the war in Iraq in the two by-elections in the Midlands.

Labour lost the previously safe seat of Leicester South to the Lib Dems, although they managed to hold on to Birmingham Hodge Hill - just.

Labour saw its huge majority of 11,618 almost wiped out, with its candidate Liam Byrne hanging on by just 460 votes.

In Leicester South the Liberal Democrats' Parmjit Gill overturned a Labour majority of 13,243 to win by 1,654 votes.

The Tories came third in both polls.

The Lib Dems stunning victory in Leicester mirrors their triumph in Brent East last September.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1143414,00.html

[lovedems]

One by one they fall.

Hopefully we will continue the trend.

[flaminbats]

2. the best possible combination..

the Labour Party still controls parliament, but will now have a new Prime Minister. :toast:

[GainesT1958]

3. I read in "The Scotsman" today..

Where many top Labourites are quietly urging Gordon Brown, currently Blair's Chancellor of the Exchequer (= Sec. of the Treasury), to seek the Labour leadership as they try and oust Blair. Brown is also a "New Labourite", so this wouldn't mean THAT big of a policy change--apparently, they are just hoping to get someone with something of a rep for more honesty in there.

B-)

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[IndianaGreen]

5. We could use a Liberal Democratic Party in the US

A strong antiwar party, with progressive social views, and an economic agenda geared towards social justice.

[umtalal]

6. I'd say this is a red flag.

Bye, bye Blair.



:nopity: can't say I am sad to see you gone.

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Guardian Utd: Blair hit by Lib Dem poll surge

From the Guardian Unlimited
Dated Friday July 16

Blair hit by Lib Dem poll surge
Labour lose in Leicester but cling on in Birmingham as Tories slump to third
By Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent

A massive Liberal Democrat surge last night took the seat of Leicester South and stopped only inches short of taking Labour's once rock solid seat of Birmingham Hodge Hill.
The party retained the seat with a majority of 460, but the swing to the Liberal Democrats was more than 27 %, rivalling the best byelection swings for Charles Kennedy's party, including Brent East last year.
The Liberal Democrats also triumphed in the Leicester South by-election, leapfrogging over the Tories from third to first place . . . .
Lord Rennard, the Liberal Democrat byelection mastermind, pronounced: "This shows in real elections we are now overtaking the Conservatives, and in many many seats, we are now the true challengers to Labour.
"Tony Blair has now lost the trust of the British people. Our vote is going to go up sharply at the election." Privately, the Liberal Democrats think they can push their MP count from 54 to as many as 80.

It looks like the good guys won this one.

Aznar
Berlusconi
Blair
Bush
Howard

[NewJerseyDem]

8. The second race was very close

The only reason the Liberal Democrat didn't win there was because there was an anti-war Respect party candidate on the ballot so the anti-war left vote was split.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. The DIFFERENCE here is the PRESS!

In Britain, the press does not exist to prop up Tony Blair. Blair is a great politician, and a brilliant, articulate man -- fully qualified for the office he holds. Yet he is paying at the polls for his actions as PM, because he, and his actions, are reported to Britain by a responsible press. In the U.S., we have a man in the WH who would not be hired for any job by his corporate supporters, yet our corporate press props this fraud up. Will Bush pay for his actions at the ballot box, or voting machine? If he does, it will be because of books and independent movies, the internet, financial support from good Americans -- it will be DESPITE our "free" press.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. kicking, for a bad night for Blair

[Spazito]

11. Blair should step down and let someone else lead the party....

he has betrayed the British people, imo.