Exit poll says Blair is third-time lucky
...asters, released an exit poll suggesting that prime minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party had, predictably, won. If so, it would be the first time in its history that Labour has won three elections in a row, albeit this time with a reduced parliamentary majority of perhaps 66 seats, compared with 165 seats (in a chamber of 659) at the 2001 election. If the exit poll is correct—it usually is, though it was embarrassingly wrong in 1992—it would be a remarkable achievement for Mr Blair. However, the slimmer majority would mean that the next Parliament, which Mr Blair insists will be his last as prime minister, could be more of a struggle for the government than the last two. Mr Blair is sailing to victory despite accusations from his opponents that he lied to the British public over Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, to justify sending troops to Iraq in 2003. In the closing stages of the election campaign, the issue was given fresh life by the leaking of the attorney-general’s advice to the government on the eve of the war, which seemed to express doubts about its legality. This week, the widow of the latest British soldier to die in Iraq blamed the prime minister for her husband’s death. The father of another soldier killed in Iraq stood against Mr Blair in his constituency in north-east England. But for all the continuing disquiet over Iraq, including among many Labour parliamentarians, Mr Blair’s poll lead grew during the campaign. Though voters have lost faith in the prime minister, they trust the Conservative leader, Michael Howard, even less. So successfully has Mr Blair stolen the Conservatives’ best clothes—sound economic management...