Tony Blair Says Britons Are Ready to Focus On the Future

For the first time in history, Britain’s Labour Party has won three straight elections by electing Tony Blair to a third term as prime minister. Margaret Thatcher is the only other prime minister in British history to serve three terms, representing the Conservative Party. But despite Blair’s victory, his party’s majority in the House of Commons was reduced significantly to about 60 seats instead of the previous 161. Labour needed at least 324 seats to form a majority, since the House of Commons consists of 646 seats. The dip in the Labour Party’s control of the House of Commons could weaken Blair’s mandate and force him to step aside before the end of his five-year term as prime minister. Cabinet Treasury chief Gordon Brown, is a powerful rival, and is widely regarded as Blair’s likely successor should he step down from his post.

In commenting about his win, Blair acknowledged that the Iraq war had been a "deeply divisive issue" in Britain. He added, "But I also know and believe that after this election people want to move on, they want to focus on the future, in Iraq and here." He promised radical legislation on health, education, and law and order in Britain. Blair, who turned 52 on Friday, told supporters, "I think we can be really proud of what we’ve achieved. We’ve got a mandate to govern this country again." But according to Robin Cook, who resigned from Blair’s Cabinet in opposition to the war, "One of the conclusions of this is that he certainly does not have a mandate to launch another war along with George Bush." The narrow margin of victory for the Labour Party could result in consequences for Britain’s special relationship with the United States, because Blair took a severe battering during the campaign because of the war in Iraq. For that reason, any future British leader may be wary of supporting Washington in global military affairs to avoid hostile domestic opinions.

One of Blair’s harshest critics in the war against Iraq was re-elected to Parliament to continue opposing the prime minister. Anti-war activist George Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party after urging British soldiers not to fight in the war, said upon his re-election, "Mr. Blair, this is for Iraq. All the people you killed, all the lies you told, have come back to haunt you. And the best thing the Labour Party could do is sack you." Many have accused Blair of misrepresenting weak British intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and lying to the country about the legal case for war. For that reason, Blair is expected to face difficulties controlling the lawmakers who have been disillusioned with his leadership of the war, as well as the changes made to the traditionally socialist Labour Party to make it more centrist.

The Labour Party’s strong economic record apparently outweighed public resentment over Iraq. The party is also credited with having improved key public services such as education and health. Most commentators suggest that these improvements are mainly due to Gordon Brown, whose strong stewardship of the British economy has resulted in the public seeing him as trustworthy and powerful. Media speculation is that power will begin to seep away from Blair to Brown, whose supporters are already wondering how quickly they can move Tony Blair out of Downing Street to be replaced by their champion. Already anticipating this, Brown has said, "I promise that we will listen and we will learn so that we can serve our country and our communities even better in the years to come."