The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Blair's victory

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Monday, May 09, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Blair's victory

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is the only leader in Britain other than Margaret Thatcher to win three elections in a row. He is also the first to win three successive terms for Labour. However, his reduced majority could now hinder his legislative programme and hasten a handover to Finance Minister Gordon Brown.

Swaminathan Rajagopalan,
Pondicherry

Whatever their domestic compulsions, it is unfortunate that the voters in the U.K. have endorsed the Iraq war by giving their mandate to Mr. Blair who along with Mr. Bush waged an illegal war against the West Asian country. Apart from being insensitive to the Iraqis' suffering, they also do not seem to be concerned about the plight of their own soldiers in that country.

Nalini Vijayaraghavan,
Thiruvananthapuram

Every one is hailing Mr. Blair's "historic" victory but I will only say that the British people were blind to the atrocities committed in Iraq by the U.S. and its allies.

Suhaib A.S.,
Edarikkode, Kerala

Mr. Blair has won again but the announcement of the Conservative party leader Michael Howard is relevant for our politicians. He said he was 63 and by the time of the next general election he would be 67 or 68 and so would stand aside for a young leader to take over.

A. Jacob Sahayam,
Thiruvananthapuram

The Labour Party was understandably happy but it has also acknowledged its dwindling popularity over Iraq that resulted in a reduced majority. On their part, the Conservatives congratulated Mr. Blair by conceding defeat and gave credit to Mr. Brown for the victory. Is there a lesson in this for our political parties?

S.R. Muralidharan,
Kolkata

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