The local elections for England, held once every four years,
turned out to be as bad as the ruling Labor Party could imagine,
with results showing on Friday that Blair's Labor has lost over 300
councilors whereas the opposition Conservative Party has gained
almost as much.
The results, widely regarded as the worst in a decade, have
dealt a heavy blow to Labor, which has been suffering a stream of
scandals during the past two weeks, involving the release of
foreign prisoners without consideration for deportation, Deputy
Prime Minister John Prescott's extra-marital affair with his diary
secretary and nurses' anger over the reform of National Health
Services.
Dwarfed by the Conservative's winning under its new and young
leader David Cameron, Blair simply refused to admit that his
government is facing a "meltdown" as many predicted.
Shortly after the local election results came out early on
Friday, the prime minister, who has won an unprecedented three
terms in office, was engrossed in a major cabinet reshuffle.
And the results were revealing indeed, with Home Secretary
Charles Clarke, who has been held responsible for the release of
1,023 foreign prisoners without any deportation consideration,
being sacked to be replaced by former defense secretary John Reed;
the scandal-ridden Prescott lost his departmental responsibilities,
although he still held his post as deputy prime minister and deputy
leader of the Labor Party.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was replaced by Margaret Beckett,
who became the country's first ever female foreign secretary.
Secretaries for education, transport, trade, environment all
changed hands in what is viewed as a major reshuffle.
Before the local elections, there were reports that some of
Labor's rebel members of Parliament had been preparing to launch a
direct and highly damaging challenge to the prime minister if the
party suffered heavy reverses in Thursday's local elections.
The rebel MPs who have given up hope of Chancellor Gordon Brow
never launching a direct coup against Blair, wanted to force the
prime minister to announce a public timetable for his departure
within 12 months, or face being dragged through a leadership
contest.
A public poll conducted by You Gov before the elections revealed
that 57 percent of those interviewed said the government is sleazy
and incompetent, while Tony Blair's personal rating was also at its
lowest level since he became the Labor leader: 64 percent said he
is doing badly.
"Governments fail and fall for a variety of reasons: serious
economic problems, incompetence, running out of steam, being
divided and scandals, and there have been splits at the top," said
Peter Riddle, a political writer for the Times.
In his views, the row of foreign prisoners, the delay in
payments to farmers, overpayment of tax credits, and hospital
cutbacks despite record funding, have all given an impression of
incompetence. But Britain's economy remains pretty strong and the
big increase in public spending has boosted the income of Labor
supporters in the public sector and those receiving tax
credits.
"The question now is more about cohesion and resolve among Labor
MPs and activists," Riddle said. "The real danger is of retreat
from public service reform into the deceptively comfortable style
of traditional Labor. That would be a gift to David Cameron."
According to Riddle, the key will be whether Blair appears in
command of events and conveys a sense of fresh ideas.
The reshuffle showed that Blair is by no means giving up. He had
spoken on several occasions that although he would not contest a
fourth general election, he wouldn't stand down before reforms of
the public services pull through.
Many analysts believed that the reshuffle, which is the largest
scale possible without any consultation with Chancellor Gordon
Brown, the prime minister to be, indicates that Blair wants to hold
fast to his position after Labor's disastrous failure in the local
elections. Blair has installed many of those he trusts, a sign that
he refuses to hand over his power in an orderly manner to
Brown.
It is reported that Blair and Brown are to meet over the weekend
on the future of Labor. But as Riddle, Times political writer
pointed out, although Blair is in the final stage of his
premiership, the goodbye could still be far away.
(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2006)
