Blair Reshuffles Cabinet After Election Losses
Foreign Secretary Dismissed in Overhaul

By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 6, 2006

LONDON, May 5 -- Prime Minister Tony Blair fired Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other senior ministers in a major cabinet reshuffle Friday after the Labor Party's poor showing in local elections that were widely seen as a referendum on Blair's government.

With the most extensive purge since he took office in 1997, analysts said Blair was trying to revitalize his government and prove he is not a lame duck despite his statements that he will not seek a fourth term.

The removal of Straw, who has enjoyed strong relations with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was a surprise. Some analysts cited tension with Blair concerning Iran's nuclear program -- at a time when Britain and the United States are trying to pressure the country, Straw has publicly called a military attack on Iran "inconceivable."

With the purge, "Blair has pulled out the dagger for the first time and wielded it with gay abandon," said Ben Page, managing director of Ipsos MORI, a polling firm. By elevating several long-trusted allies, he is signaling to skeptics in the public and within his own party "that he is still absolutely serious about trying to deliver on the remaining parts of his legacy."

Other analysts called the reshuffle an act of desperation from a leader whose approval ratings are at all-time lows. Tim Knox of the Center for Policy Studies, a research group set up by former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, called it "the act of someone who has lost touch." He said Blair should step aside: "What on earth is he trying to say? What on earth can he hope to achieve?"

The big victor in Thursday's election was the rival Conservative Party, which won about 40 percent of the vote for more than 4,000 local offices nationwide, the party's best showing since 1992. Initial projections showed Labor and the third major party in British politics, the Liberal Democrats, with about 26 or 27 percent each.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told the BBC that the results were a "warning shot" for the government. "We have got to show we are listening to people's concerns and we are going to respond to them," said Brown, who would presumably succeed Blair as prime minister if Blair were to step down before the end of his term, a subject of frequent speculation. "We have now got to renew ourselves as a party to deal with the challenges ahead."

Analysts here said that while Straw had committed no obvious blunders in office, his stance on the Western allies' confrontation with Iran undermined his standing at 10 Downing Street. Bush and Blair have maintained that all options remain on the table in dealing with Iran. But in addition to calling an attack inconceivable, Straw has called the reported consideration of a U.S. tactical nuclear strike on Iran "completely nuts."

Straw was also perceived in the British political world as being too closely aligned with Brown to suit Blair. The Labor Party is frequently divided into "Blairites" and "Brownites" who have attached their political futures to one of the two powerful men, at once partners and intense rivals. Straw will take over as the Labor Party's leader in the House of Commons, a clear demotion. The new foreign secretary will be Margaret Beckett, a low-profile Blair ally who heads the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Beckett, Britain's first female foreign secretary, has led many of Britain's efforts to implement the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

For the British public, the most dramatic move was the firing of Home Secretary Charles Clarke, a close Blair ally who had fought to keep his job after disclosures that more than 1,000 foreigners convicted of crimes, including murder and rape, were not deported after completing their prison terms. As the cabinet member in charge of domestic security, Clarke accepted responsibility for the situation.

Blair told reporters he was sorry to lose Clarke, but said, "I felt that it was very difficult, given the level of genuine public concern, for Charles to continue in this post."

"Although I do not agree with that judgment, I entirely accept his right to make it," said Clarke, who will be replaced by Defense Secretary John Reid, a blunt-spoken Scotsman and trusted Blair loyalist.

Blair also announced new ministers for European affairs, education, transport and other departments.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who recently embarrassed the government when a long-running affair with a former secretary was disclosed, was allowed to keep his position. But he was stripped of much of his responsibility, including oversight of such areas as housing, local government and urban and regional issues.

Adding to the pain for Blair and Labor in Thursday's elections, the hard-line anti-immigration British National Party (BNP) had its best showing ever, roughly doubling the 20 or so local seats it held. The BNP, viewed by many as a racist fringe party, favors an end to immigration to Britain and a government program to return foreigners to their countries of "ethnic origin."

The BNP won 11 or 12 of the 13 seats it contested in the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham. The party had identified those places as a key battleground as it attempted to tap into working-class frustration with the government's immigration policies.

"The people of Barking and Dagenham should be congratulated," said Richard Barnbrook, one of the successful BNP candidates there. "They've said that government has got to wake up; you can't treat people this way."

In an interview, Barnbrook said that the BNP would continue to build on its success. "Yes, we're still a young party," he said. "But we're on the way to giving people back their power, their voice and their identity."

Several people interviewed Friday in London said they had expected the poor showing for Labor and the rise of the BNP, particularly after the scandals involving Clarke and Prescott and accusations that the government was offering seats in the House of Lords to political contributors.

"It's no big surprise is it?" said Eddie Tuttle, a business consultant from London. "The government was bound to get its bottom smacked after the last couple of weeks."

Damien Abbott, a civil servant, said it was a "sad state of affairs" that a hard-line party such as the BNP had performed so well. But he said he understood voters' anger. "The people who are voting for them in Barking aren't racist, they probably have black and Asian friends. But they're just sick and tired of the government policy on immigration," Abbott said.