Huge loss for U.K.'s Labour in local elections

'A disappointing night'
Brown didn't even attempt to put a gloss on his losses. "It's clear to me that this has been a disappointing night, indeed a bad night for Labour," he told reporters.

His electoral thrashing came as Blair — his predecessor, and longtime rival — reminded Britons of his polished statesmanlike credentials, leading talks in London on aid to the Palestinians and hosting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at his London home.

One Labour peer, Lord Desai, recently quipped that Brown's true role was to show his party how much they missed Blair.

Results from the 159 local councils which held ballots in England and Wales on Thursday showed the Conservatives gaining 260 seats with Labour losing 333. The Liberal Democrats gained 34 seats.

Most results were announced Friday, but a high turnout in London — where around 5.5 million cast ballots — meant the count there continued until early Saturday.

Conservatives 20 points ahead
The British Broadcasting Corp. projected the Conservatives would take 44 percent of the vote in England and Wales, putting it 20 points ahead of Labour. Brown's party was a point behind the Liberal Democrats, usually the country's third-largest party, according to the BBC.

Brown was credited with overseeing Britain's longest stretch of postwar prosperity and enjoyed a strong start as prime minister when he took the post in June. He claimed to represent substance after the slick Blair years, but a brief honeymoon with voters ended abruptly when he anguished over, and then ruled out, a snap national election in October.

Since then, grumbles over rising food and fuel prices, tax changes that have hit blue-collar workers and the costly nationalization of mortgage lender Northern Rock have conspired to send poll ratings for his Labour Party to a 20-year low.

However, Brown can take heart from recent history. His Labour Party followed disastrous municipal results in 2004 with a strong national election victory only a year later.

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