Rare night of love, loons and raving monsters
By Annabel Crabb in London
May 7, 2005
The Sun called it "A Kick in the Ballots". And indeed, the glimpses of Tony Blair, snatched during the long night of Election 2005, appeared to confirm he was a man suffering from a sharp blow to a tender electoral region.
British polling booths don't close until 10pm and the incumbent spends the hours between midnight and dawn zipping around the country by helicopter before confronting inebriated campaign workers for celebration or commiseration as dawn breaks.
Late-night television had its first good look at Tony Blair just before 3am, when he surfaced to claim victory in his own constituency, Sedgefield.
Mr Blair looked uncomfortable as Reg Keys, the angry father of a British soldier killed in Iraq, collected more than 4000 votes and declared that he and his family were still awaiting an apology from the Prime Minister.
Cherie Blair looked uncomfortable as the Pensioners Party candidate, the hastily renamed Cherri Blairout-Gilham, collected 82 votes.
Both looked underwhelmed by the joy of the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate who arrived dressed as a cow and appeared well pleased with her modest haul of 157.
A pallid Mr Blair promised to respond "sensibly and wisely" to the backlash being meted out to him across the country, but he was periodically drowned out by energetic heckling.
Then he boarded his aircraft for London, heading for an audience with campaign workers at the National Portrait Gallery and the first taste of unadulterated praise in a month of campaigning. For the first time, the thrice-elected Prime Minister allowed himself an unguarded smile as at 6.20am he rose before his acolytes.
"No, I love you," he insisted politely in response to the shouted protestation of one tired and emotional campaign worker.
Perhaps it was the palpable love in the air that drew Mr Blair into a rare moment of hubris.
"We've got so many young people around now, and maybe you won't remember, but we were in opposition once," he grinned.
Some of Mr Blair's colleagues in constituencies across London, where the average swing against Labour was more than 5 per cent, were having rather less trouble remembering the long, dark years of opposition - a goodly number lost their seats and will not be part of Labour's third term.
Finally, Mr Blair headed home to Downing Street, to meet his ambitious neighbour and putative successor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
The superstitious Mr Blair had made few formal plans for his post-election cabinet shuffle or policy announcements, lest he jinx his campaign.
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You have to love the way they announce British election results, I wish they would do the same here rather than gradually release results from each booth. They should stand every candidate up and annouce the result officially to the constituency.
I particulary enjoyed watching George Galloway's victory speech, you can view it on the BBC news site.
By Annabel Crabb in London
May 7, 2005
The Sun called it "A Kick in the Ballots". And indeed, the glimpses of Tony Blair, snatched during the long night of Election 2005, appeared to confirm he was a man suffering from a sharp blow to a tender electoral region.
British polling booths don't close until 10pm and the incumbent spends the hours between midnight and dawn zipping around the country by helicopter before confronting inebriated campaign workers for celebration or commiseration as dawn breaks.
Late-night television had its first good look at Tony Blair just before 3am, when he surfaced to claim victory in his own constituency, Sedgefield.
Mr Blair looked uncomfortable as Reg Keys, the angry father of a British soldier killed in Iraq, collected more than 4000 votes and declared that he and his family were still awaiting an apology from the Prime Minister.
Cherie Blair looked uncomfortable as the Pensioners Party candidate, the hastily renamed Cherri Blairout-Gilham, collected 82 votes.
Both looked underwhelmed by the joy of the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate who arrived dressed as a cow and appeared well pleased with her modest haul of 157.
A pallid Mr Blair promised to respond "sensibly and wisely" to the backlash being meted out to him across the country, but he was periodically drowned out by energetic heckling.
Then he boarded his aircraft for London, heading for an audience with campaign workers at the National Portrait Gallery and the first taste of unadulterated praise in a month of campaigning. For the first time, the thrice-elected Prime Minister allowed himself an unguarded smile as at 6.20am he rose before his acolytes.
"No, I love you," he insisted politely in response to the shouted protestation of one tired and emotional campaign worker.
Perhaps it was the palpable love in the air that drew Mr Blair into a rare moment of hubris.
"We've got so many young people around now, and maybe you won't remember, but we were in opposition once," he grinned.
Some of Mr Blair's colleagues in constituencies across London, where the average swing against Labour was more than 5 per cent, were having rather less trouble remembering the long, dark years of opposition - a goodly number lost their seats and will not be part of Labour's third term.
Finally, Mr Blair headed home to Downing Street, to meet his ambitious neighbour and putative successor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown.
The superstitious Mr Blair had made few formal plans for his post-election cabinet shuffle or policy announcements, lest he jinx his campaign.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have to love the way they announce British election results, I wish they would do the same here rather than gradually release results from each booth. They should stand every candidate up and annouce the result officially to the constituency.
I particulary enjoyed watching George Galloway's victory speech, you can view it on the BBC news site.
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