Angry voters give Blair election 'kicking' over Iraq
"Iraq was a cloud, or indeed a shadow, over these elections," Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said after the main opposition Conservatives triumphed along with the Liberal Democrats in results from Thursday's vote.
"I am not saying we haven't had a kicking. It's not a great day for Labour," he said.
The local council poll outcome, likely to be echoed in European Parliament results tomorrow, will renew speculation about Blair's leadership.
But analysts still believe Blair US President George W Bush's closest ally over Iraq will win a third general election, widely expected to be held in 2005.
Last night Labour had lost more than 460 council seats in England and Wales and the loss of control of 15 councils including the big city prizes of Leeds and Newcastle although they regained eight others.
BBC projections put Labour's vote share at 26%, way behind the Conservatives on 38%. The Liberal Democrats, strong opponents of the Iraq war, had 30%.
"What you have got is a government that is clearly unpopular, but a main opposition party that is not capitalising," said opinion pollster Peter Kellner.
He said the Conservatives needed 40% or more to be on course for victory at the next general election.
The Conservatives, however, were upbeat. "It has been Labour's worst electoral performance in living memory and it is the first time a government has been pushed into third place in mid-term elections," said Conservative chairman Liam Fox.
The results will heighten calls from some quarters for Mr Blair to give way to his powerful finance minister Gordon Brown.
Mr Blair has said he is "up for" a third general election bid and this week's unanimous UN Security Council resolution on Iraq offers the prospect of some respite on a persistently damaging issue.
The Conservatives might have fared better were it not for a surge by the previously marginal UK Independence Party (UKIP), which advocates Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.
By 3.30pm the Conservatives had made gains of 208 seats and 11 councils. The UKIP won its first council seats. An opinion poll said the UKIP, tapping into Britons' wary view of Europe, would win up to 12 of 78 British seats in the European Parliament when the results are declared tomorrow.
The Liberal Democrats, long Britain's third party, benefited from their opposition to the Iraq war. "Iraq cast a long shadow across these elections," party leader Charles Kennedy said.
The election of Ken Livingstone, as mayor of London for a second term, having stood as a Labour candidate, is at least one bright spot for the party.
In his victory speech, Mr Livingstone said he was "delighted" to have delivered a Labour victory and that it had been "logical and honest" for him to rejoin the party.
