UK: TONY BLAIR IS ELECTED NEW PRIME MINISTER FOLLOWING LABOUR WIN

(2 May 1997) English/Nat

Tony Blair, is Britain's new Prime Minister, following a Labour landslide victory, putting the Conservative Party in opposition for the first time in 18 years.

By 0213 G-M-T on Friday morning it was over. Labour had won 330 parliamentary seats giving it a majority in the 659 seat House of Commons.

Fourteen minutes later, the Conservative Prime Minister, John Major, conceded election defeat, after he himself was elected as the Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in South East England.

On the road to a resounding victory.

Labour leader, Tony Blair arrived in his Sedgefield constituency in the early hours of Friday to await the result of the poll count to convinced his supporters had re-elected him to parliament.

Immediately the polls closed at 2100 G-M-T on Thursday, the counting of the ballot slips started.

Three hours later, the final count was complete at Blair's north of England seat.

As the prospective parliamentary candidates gathered, it was becoming evident that the Labour Party were sweeping the country, winning high numbers of seats.

And in Blair's own constituency, there was little doubt of his popularity, and was therefore no surprise when it the result returned the leader to parliament.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Anthony Charles Linton Blair, the Labour Party candidate, 33-thousand-526 (cheers)."
SUPER CAPTION: Norman Vaulks, Chief Returning Officer for Sedgefield

Smiling in triumph the Labour leader clasped his wife, Cherie's hand in jubilation.

Blair, 43, will be the youngest British Prime Minister in 185 years.

And he told the gathered audience that a vote for Labour was a vote for a new future.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"You know me, all the way through, I've been against complacency all the way through, and I'm still against it until those results finally come through. But if we have done well, then I know what this is a vote for. It is a vote for the future, it is not a vote for outdated dogma, or ideology of any kind, it is a vote for and to divisions, an end to looking backwards, a desire to apply the basic decent British values of common sense and imagination to the problems we all know we face as a country today. And it is with a real sense of pride, that we have created a Labour Party today, capable of offering that unity of purpose, that vision of renewal, that our country needs. So that with those decent values in place, we can tackle the problems our country faces - in our schools and our hospitals, the crime on our streets, the jobs for our young people, the industries of the future, the very basic things that determine whether a country succeeds or fails. We are a great country, the British people are a great people. There is no greater honour than to serve them, and serve them we will. Thank you."
SUPER CAPTION: Tony Blair, Labour Leader

Blair's father was also on hand to share in his son's success and happily posed for the media on the podium, before the Blair's left to join their supporters.

The Labour leader was given a heroes welcome at the local Labour club - the party had already started.

The Labour Party is on courser for a large majority in Westminster, having already won over the 330 seats necessary to give them a working majority.

Blair promised his supporters he would not let them or their country down.

SOUNDBITE:
"My greatest pleasure would be to repay the trust that you have put in me. I believe in you and I believe that you represent all the best in this country, and the greatest pride I could ever have is to repay that trust a thousand-fold."


Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...