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Labour wins first leadership in 18 years
Major: 'We have been comprehensively defeated'
May 2, 1997
Latest developments:
Web posted at: 1:40 a.m. EDT (0540 GMT)
- Blair hails new era of 'New Labour'
- Major calls Blair with congratulations
- Conservative losses hit top ranks
- Liberal Democrats in on the action
LONDON (CNN) -- Tony Blair will become the first Labour Party prime minister in a generation after his party trounced the incumbent Conservatives in Britain's general election.
"A new dawn has broken!" Blair told cheering party workers as the sky began to lighten Friday at the Labour victory party.
"The size of our likely majority now imposes a special sort of responsibility on us. We have been elected as 'New Labour' and we will govern as 'New Labour.'"
Conservative Prime Minister John Major is expected to go to Buckingham Palace before noon Friday to tell Queen Elizabeth II that he is dissolving his government.
Soon thereafter, Blair will make the same trip with the news of his plans to form a new government. From there, he makes an appearance at his new residence, 10 Downing Street.
The new Parliament convenes Wednesday, and the government will lay out its program a week later in a speech to Lords and Commoners by Queen Elizabeth.
Blair, 43, will become Britain's youngest prime minister in 185 years. He first became a member of Parliament in 1983.
Blair hails new era of 'New Labour'
"The British people have put their trust in us."
(345K/32 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"This vote has been a vote for the future."
(498K/46 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"The people of Britain are united behind New Labour."
(425K/40 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"The purpose of politics is to make things happen."
(239K/22 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)After staying up all night, Blair spoke energetically at the pre-dawn rally, stressing unity and holding up Labour as "the people's party."
"As a party today, we represent the whole of this nation and we will govern for the whole of this nation," Blair said, his wife Cherie smiling at his side.
"This vote tonight has been a vote for the future, for a new era of politics in Britain, so that we can put behind us the battles of this past century and address the challenges of the new century. It will be a Britain renewed."
Blair went on to acknowledge his debt to the party he has dramatically reformed, and noted his late predecessor, John Smith, had said, "All we ask is the chance to serve."
"Tonight the British people have given us the chance to serve, and serve we will, with all our heart and all our mind," Blair told the crowd.
In a direct gesture of unity, he also credited former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, whom he warmly greeted before speaking, for helping keep the party from dying out during the Conservatives' 18-year tenure.
Major calls Blair with congratulations
"The Labour Party has had a successful evening."
(197K/18 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"We are a great and historic party."
(181K/17 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"This is a great country."
(139K/13 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)"We will listen to the voice of the electorate."
(241K/22 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)Major, who easily held onto his own seat of Huntingdonshire for a fifth term, conceded defeat for his party about 3:30 a.m. (0230 GMT), shortly after Labour passed the 330-seat mark needed for a majority in the House of Commons.
"We have been comprehensively defeated," Major admitted in a short but gracious speech. He said he had called Blair about an hour earlier to congratulate him.
Labour's dominance was obvious early, and as the party hit the magic number of 330, the Conservatives lagged at 52; the Liberal Democrats had 26.
As he claimed victory in his home district in Sedgefield, Blair thanked his constituency for sticking with him.
"You have put your trust in me, and I intend to repay that trust. I will not let you down," Blair said.
The voter swing from Conservative to Labour in Sedgefield, a solid Labour seat, was 9.6 percent, according to the initial count. Such swings cropped up throughout the results.
Conservative losses hit top ranks
Several members of Major's cabinet were counted among the Conservatives' casualties, including Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind and Defense Secretary Michael Portillo.
Even the seat once held by Conservative Margaret Thatcher, Finchley in north London, went over to Labour.
"Many colleagues will have contested seats on behalf of my party this evening, contested them well and bravely, but lost them," Major told his Huntingdonshire constituency.
"I would like, if I may, to express to all of them my thanks for all they've done on behalf of our country and our party."
But Major said the Tories still had a viable role to play.
"I think I can promise the Conservative Party will be a vigorous opposition. Where it is appropriate to support we will support. ... where we believe the policies are wrong we will oppose vigorously, but honestly and fairly."
Liberal Democrats in on the action
Paddy Ashdown, leader of the third party Liberal Democrats, handily held onto his seat in Yeovil, where the swing from Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats was 3.2 percent.
"I believe that there will be a very substantial, perhaps even a two-thirds majority, for constitutional change and the modernization of our system of government in the next Parliament," Ashdown told supporters.
The Liberal Democrats, penalized as the third party by Britain's winner-take-all system, advocate proportional representation. Ashdown referred to a deal with Labour to push for constitutional reform.
"I believe that can deliver a new era for our country, an era of politics which is more in touch with people, and an era in particular where more power is in the hands of the voter, and perhaps less in the hands of the political establishment and the elites."
Labour, which has moved toward the political center under Blair's guidance, led consistently and comfortably in pre-election polls.
All 659 seats in the House of Commons were open. Nearly 44 million people were eligible to vote. Nationwide, there were more than 3,700 candidates. Voters do not vote directly for the prime minister, who is customarily the leader of the party with the most seats.
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