Hours after suffering a humiliating blow to his authority with a shocking defeat in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, Tony Blair called yesterday for the Labour Party to hold its nerve and keep to the reforming agenda on schools and anti-terror laws. "This is a moment to stand firm, to have faith that the changes we are making will in time work to our country's advantage and therefore to ours," he said.The Liberal Democrat victory in Gordon Brown's backyard - embarrassingly for the Chancellor, the seat where he lives - lifted Liberal Democrat spirits after a demoralising start to their scandal-hit leadership contest. Willie Rennie overturned a Labour majority of more than 11,000 to push Labour into second place and the SNP to third. Mr Rennie received 12,391 votes to Labour's 10,591, a majority of 1,800
Some Labour MPs were calling openly last night for Mr Blair to quit before his leadership causes more damage to the party. But the Prime Minister was unapologetic and in a keynote speech to Labour's spring conference in Blackpool did not even mention the Liberal Democrats or their win.Mr Blair pleaded with his party not to inflict more damage on his government next week with defeats in the Commons on his controversial Bills on ID cards and anti-terror measures, and won a standing ovation from the largely subdued audience. "These votes are not just crucial in themselves", he said. "They will send a strong signal, one way or another, of our intent on this issue."Referring to the protests over the offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohamed last week, Mr Blair added: "After the events of last weekend, I want to make one thing clear. I understand the offence the cartoons have caused. We all regret that.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article344703.ece
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