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Shock defeat for Labour

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: In a sensational electoral upset for Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Labour Party on Friday suffered a humiliating defeat when it lost one of its safest seats in a by-election to the Liberal Democrats who came literally from behind to unseat the ruling party in its own backyard.

The by-election in Dunfermline, Scotland, was caused by the death of the sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire who had won the seat only last May with an impressive margin of over 11,000 votes and the party was widely expected to retain it.

But the Liberal Democrats pulled off a coup when their candidate Willie Rennie defeated his Labour rival Catherine Stihler by more than 1,000 votes sending shockwaves through the Labour establishment.

Huge embarrassment

Though the margin was not significant, the defeat caused a huge embarrassment to the Labour Party because the constituency was regarded as its fortress, and the Chancellor Gordon Brown, who lives next door, visited it four times during the election campaign.

The outcome was seen as a personal setback to Mr. Brown, months before he is widely expected to take over from Mr. Blair as the next Prime Minister.

The victor, Mr. Rennie, said the Labour defeat would "rock the foundations of Downing Street''.

"The voters have sent a powerful message to the Government which will rock the foundations of Downing Street. Labour has taken people for granted for too long... .It's time Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both got the message. This is a sensational victory,'' he said.

But Labour tried to put on a brave face attributing its defeat to "local issues''.

The Tories, for whom it was their first electoral test under the new leader David Cameron, came fourth.

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