Britain’s Major Vows Not to Quit Despite Tory Defeat

Prime Minister John Major said Friday that the worst defeat ever inflicted on his Conservative Party in local elections would not force him to resign as party leader.

“I don’t make excuses,” he said outside No. 10 Downing St.

But he acknowledged: “We have, thus far, failed to persuade people that the long-term policies I am following are right for the country.”

Major declared the course of his government correct, though he added that “the price” of its policies “may well have been last night’s election results.”

Ultimately, he insisted, the Tory government’s actions will result in “long-term prosperity for this country.”

Tony Blair, leader of the opposition Labor Party, said the Thursday election results for city and county council seats in England and Wales “are clearly a disaster for the government.”

“More than that,” he added, “they are a victory for new Labor. . . . People are coming straight to us not just because the government is discredited but because they like the alternative we offer.”

In Thursday’s election, the Tories lost almost 1,800 council seats and control of 59 local governments where they had held a clear majority; they retain power on eight councils. Conservatives were wiped out in Wales, as they were in Scotland last month, with only about 20 city councils still flying the blue Tory flag.

Conversely, Labor piled on more than 1,400 new seats in local governments. The party took control of 155 councils, with the third-party Liberal Democrats increasing their number of council members to more than 450. Liberal Democrats leader Paddy Ashdown claimed that the results were a clear warning to Major and his government, which he said “should now listen or go.”

As the Tories saw city after city in their traditional strongholds fall to Labor or the Liberal Democrats, some Conservatives called for Major to step aside and be replaced by a more popular leader.

His government has been plagued by an economic recession, internal squabbling and a succession of inept moves by Cabinet ministers. But the next national parliamentary elections do not have to be called for almost two years, and there is no obvious successor to Major as Tory Party leader.