Blair's Labour party losing -46 MP

[kansasblue]

40 seats still to close to call.

[cal04]

1. Britain's Blair wins again but weakened by Iraq

"I know Iraq has been a divisive issue in this country, but I hope we now can unite again and look to the future," the chastened prime minister said after victory was confirmed overnight.

Blair lost one loyal MP, Labour's Oona King, solely to the Iraq factor. She was beaten by George Galloway, a radical expelled from the Labour party for attacking Blair over the war, in an east London seat with a large Muslim population.

"All the people you killed, all the lies you told, have come back to haunt you," Galloway told Blair in his victory speech.

Blair said last year a third term would be his last, a move critics say may make him a lame duck whose government will be riven by in-fighting between potential successors. The premier faces a fight to persuade Britons to approve the EU constitution in a promised 2006 referendum.

If Blair's majority ends up much below 70, he also faces the grim prospect of having his legislative plans -- particularly public sector reform -- blocked by a hard core of implacable opponents in his party still angered by the Iraq war.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050506/ts_nm/britain_election_dc_59

[LynnTheDem]

2. I HEART GALLOWAY!!! He's ALWAYS been fantabulously HONEST.

"All the people you killed, all the lies you told, have come back to haunt you,"

[SweetLeftFoot]

3. Galloway

there is a whole lot more to Galloway than just the war you know.

[LynnTheDem]

4. Yes I know, and your opinion is "fuck him", and I respect that.

But I have always liked Galloway.

We each are entitled to our own opinions, and just so you know, I lived in London for many years, so I'm not just a Yank with no personal experience. :)

[UKCynic]

5. I'm a Brit

Galloway is a bad man. That is about all there is to it. His success had far less to do with Iraq than that the MP he displaced was a woman of mixed race and thus unacceptable in illiberal communities. Sad but true.

[wildwww2]

6. I`m just a dumb yank. But a mixed race person backing this racist

war crime? What gives? How did she get the seat in the first place? If the community was to so "illiberal" to begin with?
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[LynnTheDem]

7. I disagree about Galloway.

A whole lot of Brits also disagree.

That's what makes life so wonderful, dontcha agree?

:)

[Nihil]

8. "Galloway is a bad man. That is about all there is to it." Tony?

Tony? Is that you? Alastair? Peter?
Whoever you are, you've swallowed the Blairite Kool-Aid bigtime.

The strawman of "woman of mixed race" is more bullshit.
This "unacceptable" woman was voted in last time and voted out this time.

Galloway's success had EVERYTHING to do with his open, blunt anti-war
approach despite everything that you and the Daily Telegraph could try
to smear him with.

[Moderator]

9. locking

No link

[Jack Rabbit]

10. Guardian Utd: Chastened Labour wins historic third term

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Friday May 6

Chastened Labour wins historic third term
· Labour's majority slashed
· Michael Howard to step down
· Lib Dems win 22% of vote
By Sarah Left

Tony Blair promised today to pursue the people's priorities in Labour's unprecedented third term and issued a veiled apology for the shortcomings of the past eight years, as he returned to Downing Street with a much-reduced majority.

Standing in front of No 10, Mr Blair made no mention of his party's sharply reduced but still decisive majority, down about 100 from the second term victory in 2001. He acknowledged that Iraq had been a "deeply divisive issue", and said he believed the country was now ready to move on.

Mr Blair drew a sharp contrast between the mobbed scenes of triumph in his 1997 victory and today's humble acceptance.

"When I stood here eight years ago, I was a lot younger, but a lot less experienced," he said, as his family listened off to one side. "I think I have a very clear idea what the British people want from a third term."

Read more.