Blair Vows to Heed Voters’ Rebuke

Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged Friday to heed the criticism of voters who had slashed his Labor Party’s governing majority in Parliament by nearly 100 seats while giving him a historic third term in office. Conservative head Michael Howard, meanwhile, shocked his party by saying he would step down despite its electoral advances.

Chastened by the losses but exultant in becoming the first leader in Labor’s 105-year history to win three elections in a row, Blair told supporters in London that he was proud of his mandate and sure of what he wanted to do with it.

“The great thing about an election is that you go out and talk to people for week upon week, and I’ve listened and I’ve learned,” he said as he returned to his official residence at 10 Downing St. The victory statement Friday coincided with his 52nd birthday.

“And I think I have a very clear idea of what the British people expect from this government for a third term.” He said he envisioned a “radical” program that would combine Labor’s social values with practical economics, focused on health and education.

After a nearly sleepless night, Blair met Friday with Queen Elizabeth II, who confirmed his victory, and took a congratulatory telephone call from President Bush. He also met colleagues and political advisors to begin forming a new Cabinet.

A reshuffle of ministries was unveiled Friday evening. Blair said he was retaining Gordon Brown as head of the Treasury, Jack Straw as foreign secretary and Charles Clarke as home secretary. He replaced Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, closely associated with the Iraq war, with John Reid, the present health secretary. A Blair favorite, David Blunkett, returned as work and pensions secretary, less than five months after he resigned as home secretary amid charges and recriminations related to his ex-lover, a married publisher.

Brown, who is widely seen as Blair’s heir, is thought to have earned a voice in new appointments because of his loyal support during the campaign. Speculation was rife that Blair, who has said he will not run for prime minister again, would be forced to hand over power to the more popular Brown before the end of his term.

Although Labor’s victory was substantial by historical standards and greater than those of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, most British newspapers interpreted the election as a moral defeat for Blair.

“A Kick in the Ballots,” blared the headline on the Sun tabloid, summing up the result.

Going into the election, Labor had enjoyed a 161-seat majority in Parliament. With 642 of the 645 races decided by late Friday, that majority had fallen to 65.

Although it had a significant majority of seats, Labor’s share of the popular vote, 36%, was the smallest of any winning party in British history, as it lost ground both to the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Preliminary results showed Labor with 355 seats in Parliament, the Conservatives with 197 and the Liberal Democrats with 62. Other parties won 28 seats, with three positions still undecided Friday. In the popular vote, the three largest parties got about 36%, 33% and 22%, with smaller parties taking the balance.

Howard, whose party gained 35 seats, more than preelection polls had suggested, surprised supporters Friday when he said he would step aside as party leader. He said he wanted to make way for a new generation that could prepare to take on Labor in the next election, which must be held within five years.

Despite the strong gains, Howard, 63, said that after a third straight defeat the party faced a long process of reconstruction that would require the leadership of a younger person.

“I’ve said that if people don’t deliver, they go. And for me, delivering meant winning the election,” he said.

The announcement ushered in the prospect of a new leadership battle among the Conservatives, less than 17 months after Howard took over the party.

Labor’s reduced majority could make life difficult for Blair because there is a core of 40 to 50 leftist lawmakers in its ranks who have rebelled in the past and probably will oppose him in the future, analysts said.

“The government ... was struggling to enact pieces of legislation while it had a majority of over 160. The thought of it trying to get some of the same sorts of legislation through ... with a majority of 60 is going to be very, very difficult,” predicted Philip Cowley, a political analyst at Nottingham University, speaking to BBC Radio.

That thought was echoed by a Labor member of Parliament from London, Jeremy Corbyn, who had opposed the invasion of Iraq and proposed laws connected to anti-terrorism, such as putting suspects under house arrest without trial and introducing a national identity card.

“If the government tries to push through ID cards and resurrection of the control orders, I think they’re going to be in serious trouble,” he told the BBC. He also said Blair should leave office “very much earlier” than the end of his third term.

“That would be for the health of the party all around, because the factor in the election has been Tony Blair as much as anything else,” he said.

Voting analysts said Labor appeared to have been hurt by the defection of many middle-class, liberal and Muslim voters opposed to the war, who in some cases voted for the Liberal Democrats or other, smaller parties. In many areas, the Conservatives appeared to be the beneficiaries.

Charles Kennedy, head of the Liberal Democrat, said the more balanced Parliament would be “much healthier” because the government would no longer be able to “ride roughshod” over other viewpoints. His own party’s gains, he said, left it “well-poised to begin the task of providing a real alternative to this Labor government.”

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Election results

British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labor Party won an historic third consecutive term, but with a reduced majority of seats in Parliament.

Vote results

Labor: 36%

Liberal Democrats: 22%

Other: 9%

Conservatives: 33%

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Party breakdown of House of Commons (number of seats)

*--* Before After Labor Party 412 355 Conservative Party 160 197 Liberal Democrats 54 62 Others 37 28 Undecided -- 3 *--*

Sources: Times reporting, Associated Press

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Janet Stobart of The Times’ London Bureau contributed to this report.