An historic victory for the British Labour Party.
The British Labour Party has, for the first time in its history, secured an unprecedented third term victory in the May 5th 2005 general election with about 360 seats compared with just under 200 seats for the Conservatives and just over 60 seats for the Liberal Democrats.
Prime Minister Tony Blair has matched Mrs Thatcher’s triple election record. But Mr Blair’s overall parliamentary majority, over all other parties, fell to 70-80 seats in comparison to 179 and 165 seats in the previous two parliaments.
Labour’s share of the popular vote was 37% against 33% for the Conservatives and 22% for the Liberal Democrats. In the 2001 general election, Labour secured 42% against 33% for the Conservatives and 19% for the Liberal Democrats.
Labour’s parliamentary majority and share of seats in the House of Commons has fallen, in large part, because of the unpopularity of the invasion of Iraq and the UK Government’s close working relations with the US Administration although Mr Blair has said that it is now time for Britain and Iraq to move on.
Mr Blair has today received the consent of the Queen to form a fresh Government and will complete the ministerial reshuffle this weekend.