Well, at least we can say we're not the only stupid country in the world.

[Norbert]

Poodle dog Tony wins a third turn as PM easily.

The only slack I can give the British citizens is that they had a choice between bush bootlicker and bush bootlicker-lite. We had a real choice and forked up.

[Jacobin]

1. He got hammered.....

BBC talking heads just said he is likely to leave as PM in the near term because of IraqNam

[rpannier]

2. Maybe...maybe not

Let's be honest here. Which of the two parties is better? I think Labor is better hands down. The massive loss of Labor seats (if that happnens) will likely force Blair to step down within a year. As I heard on KBS (Korean TV) this morning..."Britains like labor, they don't like Blair."

[PowerToThePeople]

3. Diebold in UK?

me thinks so.

[Applan]

6. No Diebold, just good old fashioned paper

The votes are cast by marking an X on a piece of paper which is hand counted. Not perfect but a damn site less open to manipulation than the good ol USA's system.

[whistle]

4. Not exactly the same as here, because the labour party gave...

...up 100 seats but still kept a majority of 66 seats. The party can boot Blair out anytime it looses faith in his leadership, so this guy is on political thin ice. Tony Baloney doesn't dare support Bush on any of his future military adventures and Blair better not try to lie to the British people again like he did over Iraq.

I think the Brits did well at keeping the Tories (conservatives) in check, although there is a right leaning mode it appears in Britain. Any chance that Tony Blair will have an epiphany and confess all about him and Bush and all the lies they contrived together? Nay, that's wishful thinking.

[sweetheart]

5. A victory for prudence

The election result appears to be turning out quite good. Blair'll
have a reduced majority, and a more serious opposition to his poor
behaviour. And as well, the evil conservatives have been defeated.

It sends a message without the stupid message the american electorate
sent about clinton's penis. They voted against the Democrats instead
of against clinton who wasn't even running! And the price has been
absolutely devastating. By contrast, britain has been collectively
quite intelligent and your comment is poorly founded.

[donheld]

7. Would you have perferred the Tories win?

they'd be worse.

[expatriate]

8. It should be mentioned

that the British electoral system operates differently than the American one. British voters do not vote directly for Blair. They vote for their local member of Parliament. The party that receives the majority of votes becomes that party that will be in power, and their prime minister, elected amongst themselves, becomes the Prime Minister of Britain.

So no-one voted directly for Blair. They voted Labour, because voting otherwise WOULD have been catastrophic. They probably would rather not have Blair, but that will be a situation for the ministers in his party to sort out.

On the other hand, apparently more than 50% of Americans voted DIRECTLY for Bush.