Blair’s Labour wins, but narrowly

updated 4:52 p.m. ET May 6, 2005

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled his Cabinet on Friday, changing leadership in defense, health and the House of Commons, and putting his government back in business after a third term victory that was dampened by a reduced majority.

Blair, who decided to skip a trip to Moscow next week to mark the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over the Nazis, focused on changes in his new government for most of Friday. Party leaders held meetings for much of the day.

Geoff Hoon was named leader of the House of Commons, John Reid became Defense Secretary and Patricia Hewitt left her post as Trade Secretary for Health Secretary.

Key figures such as Treasury chief Gordon Brown — widely seen as Blair’s likely successor — kept his post as Chancellor of the Exchequer while Jack Straw remained Foreign Secretary.

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Blunkett was known as a peacemaker in the party but resigned amid the fallout from his affair with a married woman.

Blair could be forced to step down
Earlier Friday, Blair acknowledged the Iraq war was “a deeply divisive issue” that hurt his Labour Party, but he said Britons were ready to “move on” and focus on the future.

Blair weathered a backlash from voters in Thursday’s election, although Labour’s majority in the House of Commons was reduced significantly to about 60 seats instead of the previous 161. That could weaken Blair’s mandate and force him to step down earlier than planned during his five-year term.

“I know that Iraq has been a deeply divisive issue in this country. ... But I also know and believe that after this election people want to move on, they want to focus on the future — in Iraq and here,” Blair said outside his office after returning from Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II confirmed his victory.

President Bush, who left Friday for a five-day, four-country tour of central and eastern Europe, called Blair from Air Force One to congratulate him on his re-election, said White House spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer.

'Mr. Blair, this is for Iraq'
In a sign of the strength of the anti-war sentiment, one of Blair’s harshest critics was re-elected to Parliament.

“Mr. Blair, this is for Iraq,” said anti-war activist George Galloway, who was expelled from Labour after urging British soldiers not to fight in Iraq. “All the people you killed, all the lies you told, have come back to haunt you.

“And the best thing the Labour Party could do is sack you.”

Galloway campaigned to end the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait and once said on Arab television that Arab nations should “stand by the Iraqi people.” Almost half of the voters in his district are Muslim.

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