http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/britelections010608.html

Labor Gets a Landslide

Blair Clinches Second Term as Prime Minister

By Audrey Woods

The Associated Press

L O N D O N, June 8 - Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party stormed to overwhelming election victory today, clinching a parliamentary majority that propelled him to a second term. Conservative rival William Hague conceded his crushing defeat.

"There is no greater honor than to serve you as prime minister," a buoyant Blair told supporters. "You have given us tonight a historic moment...the Labor Party, for the first time in the 100 years of our history, looks as if we may be on the verge of a second successive full term of office."

Time will tell if the 48-year-old prime minister's feat is indeed a first. Two previous Labor prime ministers have won consecutive elections, but neither served two full terms.

Hague, 40, who had remained doggedly upbeat in the face of opinion polls that gave Blair a commanding lead throughout the month-long campaign, telephoned the prime minister soon after Blair secured the 330 seats needed for a majority in the 659-seat House of Commons.

Shortly before dawn, Hague faced the cameras to thank the supporters who re-elected him to his House of Commons seat in his native Yorkshire, in the north of England. Pale but composed, he congratulated Labor on its victory, but acknowledged the results were "deeply disappointing."

"There will be much to reflect on for the Conservative Party," said Hague, promising to say more about his plans later Friday. Speculation was rife he would step aside as party leader.

Fighting Voter Apathy

The scope of Labor's victory - a reprise of its 1997 landslide that ended 18 years of Conservative rule - began taking shape within moments of the balloting's end. Exit polls by the British Broadcasting Corp. and Independent Television News predicted the Conservatives would muster fewer than half the seats Labor did - a figure that held steady as the count continued through the night.

By 4 a.m. (11 p.m. EDT), with 550 of the races declared, Labor had 388 seats to the Conservatives' 116, with 37 going to the left-leaning Liberal Democrat third party and the remainder to smaller regional parties.

Throughout the campaign, Blair battled voter apathy, apparently with limited success. Estimates put voter turnout at around 60 percent, which would be the lowest in modern times. In recent votes, nationwide turnouts have run between 70 and 77 percent.

"Turnout is low - there's something sick in the heart of our politics," Paddy Ashdown, former Liberal Democrat leader, told Sky News. Labor parliamentarian Tam Dalyell said the low turnout "speaks volumes about the low respect that politicians are now held."

Blair's triumph was also clouded by public jitters over his government's leanings toward closer European union. Even as Britons were casting ballots, the pound touched 15-year lows against the dollar - seen as a reflection of worries about the country eventually joining the single European currency.

The government has insisted it would not take Britain into the common currency, the euro, without referendum approval. Hague had largely pinned his campaign to anti-euro sentiment, along with pledges to defend Britain's European Union veto powers and scuttle plans for a European rapid-reaction force.

The Conservatives also called for significant tax cuts, tougher policies on crime and immigration and decentralized control of the nation's schools, while Blair sought a mandate to renew public services, bolster the flagship national health service and boost secondary school standards.

Foot-and-Mouth, Race Riots Major Campaign Points

Under Blair, Labor has had consistently high approval ratings for its handling of the economy, the area where it had historically failed to win public confidence. But it also roused the enmity of rural voters who feel the government has neglected them, especially during the foot-and-mouth epidemic of recent months, now abating.

In tense Northern Ireland, the Labor-Conservative rivalry was all but irrelevant. The province's 18 seats in the British Parliament were being contested by regional Protestant and Catholic parties, in a vote seen as a key test for the 1998 peace accord. Underscoring the volatile atmosphere, a gunman wounded two policemen outside a rural polling station, police said.

Trouble also flared in Oldham, a rough-hewn northern England town that was torn by racial violence last month. Members of an anti-racism group confronted a far-right politician as results were being tallied, and one person was arrested as the protesters scuffled with police.

In the Republic of Ireland, Thursday was also Election Day. Voters weighed referendum questions that included whether to ratify the European Union treaty and to ban the already-outlawed death penalty.

Under Britain's parliamentary system, the prime minister does not directly campaign for election. Instead, the party that wins a majority in the House of Commons forms the government, and its leader becomes prime minister.

In both Northern Ireland and the Republic, results were not expected until early Friday evening.

Under Britain's parliamentary system, the prime minister is not directly elected. Now that the results are in, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state, will invite Blair, as leader of the winning party, to form a government. Members of Parliament were to be sworn in Wednesday, with the state opening of Parliament June 20.

Even if this Blair mandate lacked the fervor of his last one, some voters said they were ready to give him a chance. Londoner Gillian Ensor-Hofma said she voted for Blair because he was "reasonably better" than his opponents.

-- (in@the.news), June 08, 2001