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Another defeat for liberal Democrats around the world. :lol: It is nice to see that the BBC isn’t as influential as they thought they were.
SourceMay 5, 6:20 PM (ET)
By ROBERT BARR
LONDON (AP) - Tony Blair won a historic third term as prime minister Thursday but his Labour Party suffered a sharply reduced parliamentary majority in apparent punishment for going to war in Iraq, according to projections based on exit polls.
Such an outcome, if confirmed by the actual vote count, could set the stage for Blair to be replaced in midterm by a party rival such as Gordon Brown. As Treasury chief, Brown was widely credited for the strong economy that appears to have clinched Labour's victory, outweighing the bitterness many voters said they felt over Iraq.
The BBC projected that Labour would have a 66-seat majority, down from its 161-seat lead over the combined opposition in the previous House of Commons.
The station's projections had Labour taking 37 percent of the popular vote, the lowest winning share ever. The Conservatives, showing their first signs of life since losing power eight years ago, were estimated at 33 percent.
Such a result matched the "bloody nose" - a humiliation but not a defeat - that opponents had hoped to give Blair.
The left-leaning Guardian newspaper offered free clothespins to any reader who requested one after a columnist urged reluctant Labour supporters to put aside opposition to the Iraq war to back the party for its domestic policies.