Fire Damages a Tory Office Near London

A local office of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party was badly damaged early Wednesday in a suspected arson attack that party officials quickly blamed on left-wing extremists.

The fire, which destroyed thousands of campaign leaflets for the June 11 general election, was in the London suburb of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, held by the opposition Labor Party with a 9,000-vote majority. Labor joined with other parties in condemning the incident, virtually unheard of in a British election campaign.