Johnson's Conservatives crush Corbyn's Labour in General Election

GENERAL ELECTION 2019

Conservative majority of 80

	SCOREBOARD	Seats	Diff	Votes%	Diff%
•	Conservatives	365	(+48)	43.6	(+1.2)
•	Labour	203	(-60)	32.1	(-7.9)
•	Lib Dems	11	(-1)	11.6	(+4.2)
•	Scottish Nationals	48	(+13)	3.9	(+0.8)
•	Green Party	1	(-)	2.7	(+1.1)
•	Brexit Party	-	(-)	2.0	(+2.0)
•	Democratic Unionists	8	(-2)	0.8	(-0.1)
•	Plaid Cymru	4	(-)	0.5	(-)
•	Others	10	(+2)	2.8

Turnout 67.3%

EXIT POLL • CON 368 • LAB 191 • LD 13 • OTH 78  • Conservative majority of 86

BORIS JOHNSON received a huge mandate for his promise to "get Brexit done" as the Conservatives crushed Labour in its heartlands in the north, the Midlands and Wales to gain a comfortable majority of 80.
 
On a catastrophic night for Jeremy Corbyn, the Tories took seats such as Blyth Valley, Bishop Auckland, Sedgefield, West Bromwich West, and Wrexham, all of which had been Labour-held since 1935.
 

Leigh - the former seat of Andy Burnham, the current Mayor of Manchester - had been a Labour stalwart since 1922 but has now returned a Conservative MP.

It was a picture repeated all over the country throughout the night from early on when the Blyth Valley result came through just after 11.30pm.

The Sedgefield result - a constituency previously represented for 24 years by former Prime Minister Tony Blair - came in around four hours later.

Well before that, the exit poll at 10pm - giving a Conservative majority of 86 - had caused its usual stir and ultimately proved to be just about as accurate as it was in 2017 when Theresa May lost her majority.

This time, Labour lost by some ridiculous margins in supposedly solid seats and so was also defeated in many other places which had never previously come under consideration for the Tories.

Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire provided the biggest successful swing of the night - 18% - as the Conservatives ended a history of Labour control which stretched back to 1929.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Derbyshire, 87-year-old Dennis Skinner lost Bolsover after representing the area for just short of half a century.

Indeed, it is perhaps difficult to quantify fully what a horror show this election was for Labour on Friday 13th. It really was the nightmare before Christmas for the party.

The unashamedly pro-Remain Liberal Democrats - who stood on a platform of revoking Article 50 - had a similarly poor night following a lacklustre campaign.

Their eventually tally of 11 seats was one fewer than last time as leader Jo Swinson lost her own Dunbartonshire East seat to the Scottish National Party.

Few tears around the country will have been shed for her on either side of the political divide.

The Scottish Nationalists have plenty to smile about, though. Having regressed somewhat in 2017, Nicola Sturgeon's party augmented their already dominant position north of the border.

It may well take another big win in the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021 to transform their dream into reality - but, while Mr Johnson might not like to hear it, the question surrounding Scottish independence is certainly not going to disappear anytime soon.

At least this election has appears to have provided a solution to the Brexit quandary which has stalled the country since the vote to leave the European Union three-and-a-half years ago.

Still, though, Mr Johnson has been re-elected to a country which is in dire need of investment in its public services while Brexit finally gets sorted.

In fairness, the Tories have pledged to reverse some of the damaging cuts made during the post-2010 period of austerity in terms of nurses and police officers, even if they have been rather economical with the truth regarding the actual numbers.

And therein lies the problem, really. Mr Johnson has won this election in spite of his poor personal ratings, aided by the fact that Mr Corbyn's popularity was, of course, worse still.

On the question of trust, Mr Johnson rated woefully - which must surely come as no surprise to a man who has literally been sacked from top jobs for lying - twice.

But Mr Corbyn ultimately had more historical mud which stuck - and, having been an asset to his party when still relatively unknown at a national level in 2017, he was equally a liability for Labour this time.

Labour's vote went down all across the UK - in both strongly Remain and Leave seats - so, while this was a Brexit election, the party must come to accept that Brexit was not the only reason for its defeat.

A period of introspection now follows for the Opposition - might the party have done better with the same manifesto with someone more popular fronting the campaign?

Or if Labour risked replacing Mr Corbyn with a more centrist outlook, how much of its fanatical membership will the party lose - and how many votes might it win back?

Instinctively, it does not feel as if it is going to be pretty either way - and, in the last few years, Labour has given the impression that it specialises in mass infighting.

In any case, the next leadership election will merely provide a potentially messy sideshow to the early decisions of the Johnson government.

Finally, for now, a word on the media - specifically the BBC - which, by any standards, had a wretched campaign from the start.

After a dishevelled Mr Johnson made a mess of placing a red wreath at the Cenotaph, ahead of the silence on Remembrance Sunday, BBC Breakfast instead showed footage of him in much smarter dress placing a green wreath in 2016 when he was Foreign Secretary.

Then there was the rather more serious matter of the BBC editing a clip for its main bulletin to cut out the audience laughter at the Prime Minister during the party leaders' Question Time, after he was asked whether he believed it was important to tell the truth. The edited clip showed only applause.

Now, only the most ardent Corbynite would suggest that the poor editorial decisions of the BBC was truly the reason why the Conservatives have enjoyed so much success in this election at the expense of Labour.

But, in a world ravaged by fake news on social media and newspapers in the traditional media which stick rigidly to their own agenda, it would be difficult to suggest the BBC in any way provided a much better service.

Sky News is now widely available in the UK on Freeview, not just by subscription - and, out of the clutches of Rupert Murdoch, appears to provide a genuinely more balanced output. 

Certainly, it must be said the BBC cannot consider itself to be the almost untouchable national institution which it once was.

GENERAL ELECTION 2019

REGION-BY-REGION

NORTH EAST ENGLAND

• Conservative

Berwick-upon-Tweed - Hexham - Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland | Gains: Bishop Auckland, Blyth Valley, Darlington, North West Durham, Redcar, Sedgefield, Stockton South

• Labour

Blaydon - City of Durham - North Durham - Easington - Gateshead - Hartlepool - Houghton & Sunderland South - Jarrow - Middlesbrough - Newcastle upon Tyne Central - Newcastle upon Tyne East - Newcastle upon Tyne North - South Shields - Stockton North - Sunderland Central - Tynemouth - North Tyneside - Wansbeck - Washington & Sunderland West

NORTH WEST ENGLAND

• Conservative

Altrincham & Sale West - Blackpool North & Cleveleys - Bolton West - Carlisle - Cheadle - Congleton - Copeland - Eddisbury - Fylde - Hazel Grove - Macclesfield - Morecambe & Lunesdale - Pendle - Penrith & The Border - Ribble Valley - Rossendale & Darwen - South Ribble - Southport - Tatton - Wyre & Preston North | Gains: Barrow & Furness - Blackpool South, Bolton North East, Burnley, Bury North, Bury South, Crewe & Nantwich, Heywood & Middleton, Hyndburn, Leigh, Warrington South, Workington

• Labour

Ashton Under Lyne - Birkenhead - Blackburn - Blackley & Broughton - Bolton South East - Bootle -  City of Chester - Denton & Reddish - Ellesmere Port & Neston - Garston & Halewood - Halton - Knowsley - Lancashire West - Lancaster & Fleetwood - Liverpool Riverside - Liverpool Walton - Liverpool Wavertree - Liverpool West Derby - Makerfield - Manchester Central - Manchester Gorton - Manchester Withington - Oldham East & Saddleworth - Oldham West & Royton - Preston - Rochdale - St Helens North - St Helens South & Whiston - Salford & Eccles - Sefton Central - Stalybridge & Hyde - Stockport - Stretford & Urmston - Wallasey - Warrington North - Weaver Vale - Wigan - Wirral South - Wirral West - Worsley & Eccles South - Wythenshawe & Sale East

• Liberal Democrats

Westmorland & Lonsdale

• Speaker

Chorley

YORKSHIRE & HUMBER

• Conservative

Beverley & Holderness - Brigg & Goole - Calder Valley - Cleethorpes - Elmet & Rothwell - Haltemprice & Howden - Harrogate & Knaresborough - Morley & Outwood - Pudsey - Richmond - Scarborough & Whitby - Selby & Ainsty - Shipley - Skipton & Ripon - Thirsk & Malton - York Outer - East Yorkshire | Gains: Colne Valley, Dewsbury, Don Valley, Great Grimsby, Keighley, Penistone & Stocksbridge, Rother Valley, Scunthorpe, Wakefield

• Labour

Barnsley Central - Barnsley East - Batley & Spen - Bradford East - Bradford South - Bradford West - Doncaster Central - Doncaster North - Halifax - Hemsworth - Huddersfield - Kingston-upon-Hull East - Kingston-upon-Hull North - Kingston-upon-Hull West & Hessle - Leeds Central - Leeds East - Leeds North East - Leeds North West - Leeds West - Normanton, Pontefract & Castleford - Rotherham - Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough - Sheffield Central - Sheffield Hallam - Sheffield Heeley - Sheffield South East - Wentworth & Dearne - York Central

EAST MIDLANDS

• Conservative

Amber Valley - Boston & Skegness - Bosworth - Broxtowe - Charnwood - Corby - Daventry - Derbyshire Dales - Mid Derbyshire - North East Derbyshire - South Derbyshire - Erewash - Gainsborough - Grantham & Stamford - Harborough - Kettering - North West Leicestershire - South Leicestershire - Loughborough - Louth & Horncastle - Mansfield - Newark - Northampton North - Northampton South - South Northamptonshire - Rushcliffe - Rutland & Melton - Sherwood - Sleaford & North Hykeham - South Holland & The Deepings - Wellingborough | Gains: Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Derby North, Gedling, High Peak, Lincoln

• Labour

Chesterfield - Derby South - Leicester East - Leicester South - Leicester West - Nottingham East - Nottingham North - Nottingham South

WEST MIDLANDS

• Conservative

Aldridge-Brownhills - Bromsgrove - Burton - Cannock Chase - Dudley South - Halesowen & Rowley Regis - Hereford & South Herefordshire - North Herefordshire - Kenilworth & Southam - Lichfield - Ludlow - Meriden - Nuneaton - Redditch - Rugby - Shrewsbury & Atcham - North Shropshire - Solihull - Stafford - Staffordshire Moorlands - South Staffordshire - Stoke-on-Trent South - Stone - Stourbridge - Stratford-on-Avon - Sutton Coldfield - Tamworth - Telford - North Warwickshire - Worcester - Mid Worcestershire | Gains: Birmingham Northfield, Dudley North, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent Central, Stoke-on-Trent North, West Bromwich East, West Bromwich West, Wolverhampton North East, Wolverhampton South West

• Labour

Birmingham Edgbaston - Birmingham Erdington - Birmingham Hall Green - Birmingham Hodge Hill - Birmingham Ladywood - Birmingham Perry Barr - Birmingham Selly Oak - Birmingham Yardley - Coventry North East - Coventry North West - Coventry South - Walsall North - Walsall South - Warley - Warwick & Leamington - Wolverhampton South East

EAST ENGLAND

• Conservative

Basildon & Billericay - South Basildon & East Thurrock - Mid Bedfordshire - North East Bedfordshire - South West Bedfordshire - Braintree - Brentwood & Ongar - Broadland - Broxbourne - Bury St Edmunds - North East Cambridgeshire - North West Cambridgeshire - South Cambridgeshire - South East Cambridgeshire - Castle Point - Chelmsford - Clacton - Colchester - Epping Forest - Great Yarmouth - Harlow - Harwich & North Essex - Hemel Hempstead - Hertford & Stortford - North East Hertfordshire - South West Hertfordshire - Hertsmere - Hitchin & Harpenden - Huntingdon - Maldon - Mid Norfolk - North West Norfolk - South Norfolk - South West Norfolk - Norwich North - Rayleigh & Wickford - Rochford & Southend East - Saffron Walden - Southend West - Stevenage - Central Suffolk & Ipswich North - Suffolk Coastal - South Suffolk - West Suffolk - Thurrock - Watford - Waveney - Welwyn Hatfield - Witham | Gains: Ipswich, North Norfolk, Peterborough

• Labour

Bedford - Cambridge - Luton North - Luton South - Norwich South

• Liberal Democrats 
Gains: St Albans

SOUTH EAST ENGLAND

• Conservative

Aldershot - Arundel & South Downs - Ashford - Aylesbury - Banbury - Basingstoke - Beaconsfield - Bexhill & Battle - Bognor Regis & Littlehampton - Bracknell - Buckinghamshire - Chatham & Aylesford - Chesham & Amersham - Chichester - Crawley - Dartford - Dover - Eastleigh - Epsom & Ewell - Esher & Walton - Fareham - Faversham & Mid Kent - Folkestone & Hythe - Gillingham & Rainham - Gosport - Gravesham - Guildford - East Hampshire - North East Hampshire - North West Hampshire - Hastings & Rye - Havant - Henley - Horsham - Isle of Wight - Lewes - Maidenhead - Maidstone & The Weald - Meon Valley - Milton Keynes North - Milton Keynes South - Mole Valley - New Forest East - New Forest West - Newbury - Portsmouth North - Reading West - Reigate - Rochester & Strood - Romsey & Southampton North - Runnymede & Weybridge - Sevenoaks - Sittingbourne & Sheppey - Southampton Itchen - Spelthorne - East Surrey - Surrey Heath - South West Surrey - Mid Sussex - North Thanet - South Thanet - Tonbridge & Malling - Tunbridge Wells - Wantage - Wealden - Winchester - Windsor - Witney - Woking - Wokingham - Worthing East & Shoreham - Worthing West - Wycombe | Gains: Eastbourne

• Labour

Brighton Kemptown - Canterbury - Hove - Oxford East - Portsmouth South - Reading East - Slough - Southampton Test

• Liberal Democrats

Oxford West and Abingdon

• Green
Brighton Pavilion 

LONDON

• Conservative

Beckenham - Bexleyheath & Crayford - Bromley & Chislehurst - Chelsea & Fulham - Chingford & Woodford Green - Chipping Barnet - Cities of London & Westminster - Croydon South - Finchley & Golders Green - Harrow East - Hendon - Hornchurch & Upminster - Old Bexley & Sidcup - Orpington - Putney - Romford - Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner - Richmond Park - Sutton & Cheam - Uxbridge & Ruislip South - Wimbledon | Gains: Carshalton & Wallington, Kensington

• Labour

Barking - Battersea - Bermondsey & Old Southwark - Bethnal Green & Bow - Brentford & Isleworth - Brent Central - Brent North - Camberwell & Peckham - Croydon Central - Croydon North - Dagenham & Rainham - Dulwich & West Norwood - Ealing Central & Acton - Ealing North - Ealing Southall - East Ham - Edmonton - Eltham - Enfield North - Enfield Southgate - Erith & Thamesmead - Feltham & Heston - Greenwich & Woolwich - Hackney North & Stoke Newington - Hackney South & Shoreditch - Hammersmith - Hampstead & Kilburn - Harrow West - Hayes & Harlington - Holborn & St Pancras - Hornsey & Wood Green - Ilford North - Ilford South - Islington North - Islington South & Finsbury - Lewisham Deptford - Lewisham East - Lewisham West & Penge - Leyton & Wantstead - Mitcham & Morden - Poplar & Limehouse - Streatham - Tooting - Tottenham - Vauxhall - Walthamstow - West Ham - Westminster North | Gains: Putney

• Liberal Democrats

Carshalton & Wallington - Kingston & Surbiton - Twickenham | Gains: Richmond Park

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND

• Conservative

Bournemouth East - Bournemouth West - Bridgwater & Somerset West - Camborne & Redruth - Cheltenham - Chippenham - Christchurch - North Cornwall - South East Cornwall - The Cotswolds - Devizes - Central Devon - East Devon - North Devon - South West Devon - West Devon and Torridge - Mid Dorset and North Poole - North Dorset - South Dorset - West Dorset - Filton & Bradley Stoke - Forest of Dean - Gloucester - Kingswood - Newton Abbot - Plymouth Moor View - Poole - St Austell & Newquay - St Ives - Salisbury - North Somerset - North East Somerset - Somerton & Frome - North Swindon - South Swindon - Taunton Deane - Tewkesbury - Thornbury & Yate - Tiverton & Honiton - Torbay - Totnes - Truro & Falmouth - Wells - Weston-Super-Mare - North Wiltshire - South West Wiltshire - Yeovil | Gains: Stroud

• Labour

Bristol East - Bristol North West - Bristol South - Bristol West - Exeter - Plymouth Sutton & Devonport

• Liberal Democrats

Bath

SCOTLAND

• Conservative

Aberdeenshire West & Kincardine - Banff & Buchan - Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk - Dumfries & Galloway - Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale - Moray

• Labour
Edinburgh South

• Scottish National Party

Aberdeen North - Airdree & Shotts - Argyll & Bute - Ayrshire Central - Ayrshire North & Arran - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East  - West Dunbartonshire - Dundee East - Dundee West - Dunfermline & West Fife - East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow - Edinburgh East - Edinburgh North & Leith - Edinburgh South West - Falkirk - Glasgow Central - Glasgow East - Glasgow North  - Glasgow North West - Glasgow South - Glasgow South West - Glenrothes - Inverclyde - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey - Kilmarnock & Loudoun - Lanark & Hamilton East - Linlithgow & Falkirk East - Livingston - Motherwell & Wishaw - Na h-Eileanan an lar - Paisley & Renfrewshire North - Paisley & Renfrewshire South - Perth & North Perthshire - Ross, Sky & Lochaber | Gains: Aberdeen South, Angus, Ayr-Carrick & Cumnock, Coatbridge-Chryston & Belshill, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfewshire, Glasgow North East, Gordon, Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, Midlothian, Ochil & South Perthshire, Rutherglen & Hamilton West, Stirling

• Liberal Democrats

Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross - Edinburgh West - Orkney & Shetland | Gains: North East Fife

WALES

• Conservative

Aberconwy - Brecon & Radnorshire - Carmarthen West & South Pembrokeshire - Clwyd West - Monmouth - Montgomeryshire - Preseli Pembrokeshire - Vale of Glamorgan | Gains: Bridgend, Clwyd South, Delyn, Vale of Clwyd, Wrexham, Ynys Mon

• Labour

Aberavon - Alyn & Deeside - Blaenau Gwent - Caerphilly - Cardiff Central - Cardiff North - Cardiff South & Penarth - Cardiff West - Cynon Valley - Gower - Islwyn - Llanelli - Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney - Neath - Newport East - Newport West - Ogmore - Pontypridd - Rhondda - Swansea East - Swansea West - Torfaen

• Plaid Cymru

Arfon - Carmarthen East & Dinefwr - Ceredigion - Dwyfor Meirionnydd  

NORTHERN IRELAND

• Democratic Unionists
Belfast East - East Antrim - East Londonderry - Lagan Valley - North Antrim - South Antrim - Strangford - Upper Bann 

• Sinn Fein

Belfast West - Fermanagh & South Tyrone - Mid Ulster - Newry & Armagh - South Down - West Tyrone | Gains: Belfast North

• SDLP 
Gains: Belfast South, Foyle 

• Alliance
Gains: North Down

Labour takes a jump to the left with Corbyn landslide

LABOUR LEADERSHIP RESULT

Jeremy CORBYN	251,417	59.5%
Andy BURNHAM	80,462	19%
Yvette COOPER	71,928	17%
Liz KENDALL	18,857	4.5%
Turnout	422,664	76.3%

LABOUR made its most radical shift in decades as the landslide election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader marked the end of the New Labour era.

Mr Corbyn enjoyed an overwhelming victory in the first round of the ballot, taking 251,417 votes (59.5%) to finish well ahead of early favourite Andy Burnham (19%) and another former government minister, Yvette Cooper (17%).

The Blairite candidate Liz Kendall limped home in last place with just 18,857 votes (4.5%).

Already, though, Mr Corbyn has faced some internal opposition.

Within minutes of the result, shadow Health Secretary Jamie Reed had resigned, while - only a little later - Ms Cooper, former leader Ed Miliband and another shadow minister Rachel Reeves all confirmed they would not serve in a Corbyn Cabinet.

Of course, none of this is an unexpected turn of events or even a complete disaster for the new leader - bemused former Deputy PM Lord Prescott even pondered "who?" when asked about Mr Reed live on the BBC.

Nevertheless, even these minor enough ructions demonstrate amply the extent of the work which Mr Corbyn faces to keep his party united.

In fairness to the 66-year-old Islington North MP, he did offer a few olive branches in his opening speech to those on other wings of the party to himself and his many grassroots supporters.

He joked amicably about his differences of opinion with fellow candidate Ms Kendall and their sharing of late-night trains heading home from hustings meetings.

There was also a conspicuous absence of any mention of his views on the UK membership of NATO or the renewal of the nuclear deterrent Trident.

He did, however, attack the media directly, describing parts of it as "abusive" and "intrusive".

Notably, his newly-elected deputy, Tom Watson, is perhaps best remembered for taking on the News of the World over phone-hacking allegations in the last Parliament.

It is fair to say then that neither Mr Corbyn nor Mr Watson will be doing any Blair-style cosying-up to the likes of Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper or Paul Dacre's Daily Mail.

This will undoubtedly work against Mr Corbyn - he will be seen as fair game by the right-wing media which will dig for dirt and shriek hysterically at every perceived misstep.

But, at the same time, this is something which Mr Corbyn appears willing to accept as he moves Labour in an entirely different direction.

Indeed, he is aware that far greater damage will come opposition on his own side as he shifts Labour away from so-called austerity-lite policies and towards the renationalisation of the railways and major utilities.

Additionally, the road to national electoral success is mathematically difficult anyway, to say the least.

For, even if an anti-austerity Corbyn-led party won back the votes of every supporter of the Scottish Nationalists, the rump Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, there would still be a Conservative majority.

Boundary changes, due in this Parliament, will also favour the Tories - and so, while it is an uncomfortable proposition, Labour simply must do better against the Conservatives in Middle England to win.

Yes, there are the many - mainly younger - non-voters who could be swept up by Mr Corbyn before the next general election.

All the available evidence suggests, though, that the Conservative-dominated over-65s demographic will continue to out-vote their younger counterparts.

The worry then is that Labour has thrown a Corbyn-shaped comfort blanket around itself, and will do no better in 2020 than it did in May this year.

Perhaps a more pertinent worry for democracy generally, though, is that Mr Corbyn may not even be afforded the opportunity to make his case if the internal party disputes force him out.

This would be despite his huge mandate in having won almost 60% of the total vote, and having won in each of the three sections - comprising of party members, registered supporters and affiliated supporters.

Rightly, right now, there is scepticism over whether Mr Corbyn has a widespread enough appeal to win an election against the Conservatives.

But at least the election of Mr Corbyn will decisively end a previously accepted view that the two main parties were just the same.

Mr Corbyn is ready to give British politics a shake - indeed, it might never be quite the same again.

Coulson guilty, Cameron guilty by association

PHONE-HACKING VERDICT 

(2) = facing two charges

Defendant	Charge(s)	Verdict
Andy Coulson	conspiracy to hack phones conspiring to commit misconduct in public office(2)	Guilty No verdict returned
Rebekah Brooks	conspiracy to hack phones conspiracy to pervert the course of justice(2) conspiring to commit misconduct in public office(2)	Cleared  of all charges
Charlie Brooks	conspiracy to pervert the course of justice	Cleared
Clive Goodman	conspiring to commit misconduct in public office(2)	No verdict returned
Cheryl Carter	conspiracy to pervert the course of justice	Cleared
Mark Hanna	conspiracy to pervert the course of justice	Cleared
Stuart Kuttner	conspiracy to hack phones	Cleared

 
PRIME MINISTER David Cameron apologised today after his former Director of Communications, Andy Coulson, was found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones while editor at the News of the World.

Coulson, who was editor of the newspaper between 2003 and 2007, was convicted by the jury of eight women and three men at the Old Bailey.

However, his predecessor at the now-defunct paper, the flame-haired Rebekah Brooks, was cleared of all of the charges against her.

Mrs Brooks's husband, Charlie Brooks, was cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, as was her long-standing personal secretary Cheryl Carter and News International's head of security Mark Hanna.

The last of the seven defendants, former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, was cleared of conspiring to hack voicemails.

The trial, which lasted 138 days, was one of the longest and most expensive in British legal history - but, with justice served in the courts, attention soon turned to Downing Street.

Mr Cameron, who hired Coulson only weeks after he resigned from the News of the World, had earlier promised to apologise if Coulson was found guilty.

And, today, Mr Cameron had to make that apology, stating that he was "extremely sorry" that he had made "the wrong decision" despite the assurances he had received.

Of course, the apology is all well and good - although, frankly, anything less would have surely been an abdication of responsibility. Nevertheless, doubts will remain over Mr Cameron's judgement.

After all, the PM had gone against the advice of some his own colleagues in making the appointment.

It was no surprise then to see Labour leader Ed Miliband look to make some easy political capital out of the verdict.

"David Cameron brought a criminal into the heart of Downing Street," declared Mr Miliband.

But the Tories can point out that Labour also once had a close association with the News of the World, such was the power of the Rupert Murdoch-owned weekly.

As a matter of fact, it was revealed during the trial that former Prime Minister Tony Blair had sent a series of text messages to Mrs Brooks signed with a "T" and a kiss.

And, this was not the only close relationship exposed in the deliberations at the Old Bailey.

It emerged, quite sensationally, that Coulson and Mrs Brooks had indulged in a long-term affair between 1998 and 2007 while Mrs Brooks was married to her ex-husband, actor Ross Kemp.

The jury ruled today, though, that while Coulson definitely knew that phone-hacking was going on at his newspaper, it could not be said that Mrs Brooks did.

So, while her embarrassment may be quite considerable - at least, in the eyes of the law, she cannot be considered a criminal.

In spite of this, few tears will be shed among phone-hacking victims for Mrs Brooks.

They will argue that the pain they suffered through the invasion of their privacy by Coulson and others at the News of the World far outweighs her embarrassment.

And, while welcoming Coulson's conviction and the damages they have received in their own civil cases, the phone-hacking victims could easily argue that they are still without an overriding resolution.

That, of course, was meant to emerge from the Leveson Inquiry into "the culture, practices and ethics of the press", which concluded that some kind of statutory regulation was required.

Political wrangling and some reasonable worries about state control of the press resulted in outright statutory regulation being replaced by a Royal Charter.

But, while Murdoch has been able to start up a new weekly paper on a Sunday, none of his publications has yet signed up to the Charter.

Nor have the newspapers from the Mail group, the Telegraph group or the Trinity Mirror stable.

Indeed, despite the Coulson verdict today, not much seems to have changed at all.

Cameron urged to step back on Syria

WAR drums are being beaten again as the Syria crisis gradually reaches its international tipping point - but any action will almost certainly not involve British forces.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his holiday in Cornwall and recalled Parliament to raise a motion supporting the principle of yet more military intervention in the Middle East.

But, embarrassingly for Mr Cameron, the vote in the House of Commons was surprisingly lost last night by 285 to 272 as MPs from all sides used their conscience and listened to the public.

For better or worse, and probably for better, the shadow of the Iraq war still looms large - and, as a Yougov poll demonstrated this week, there is little support in the country for another bombing campaign.

Indeed, 50% of respondents said they would oppose a missile attack while 25% supported the idea. Even Conservative voters were against the strikes by 45% to 33%.

Now, undoubtedly, there are some absolutely horrible things happening in Syria at the moment. You only have to see the news headlines and the television pictures of the people dying and suffering to work that out.

President Bashar al-Assad also appears to be a tyrant in trouble, willing to do anything to stay in power - and so it hardly takes a huge leap of logic to consider he would use chemical weapons on his opponents.

Importantly, though, from a British perspective, the actual situation on the ground in Syria remains as clear as mud. Was it definitely Assad who used the chemical weapons or was it the rebels using it to raise stakes and effectively invite Western intervention?

For his part, even Mr Cameron admitted in the debate before the division that there was no "one smoking piece of intelligence" which made it 100% certain the Assad regime was behind the atrocity.

At least this represented a more honest presentation than the one delivered by Tony Blair a decade ago about Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction.

Nevertheless, it was only the result of an intervention by Labour leader Ed Miliband which prevented Mr Cameron from ordering immediate military strikes.

The Prime Minister was also forced to back down and perform perhaps his biggest U-turn yet after deep reservations about rushing a decision were also raised by his own backbenchers.

In fact, with about 30 Labour MPs absent, it was then those very same backbenchers who caused him to be defeated last night.

Notably, the BBC political correspondent Iain Watson had mentioned earlier on Twitter: "Senior conservatives saying to me that [the] chief whip misread the mood of the party on Syria".

And so it came to pass. Mr Cameron, while obviously disappointed, was left in no position other than to respect the wishes of Parliament.

Thus, the vote has become a momentous, historical, shift in power away from the executive to the legislature.

Of course, theoretically, Prime Ministers do not need the support of the Commons to go to war. Realistically, from now on though, any future PM would need to consult Parliament for approval.

It is difficult to see that happening any time soon - as while, doubtless, the MPs who voted against intervening last night did so with a heavy conscience, it has been decided that British forces have been in enough conflict recently.

That will not necessarily stop the United States, of course - although Assad's long-time ally Russia seems sure to have something to say about any use of force.

Already, both ex-Cold War adversaries have sent warships to the Mediterranean while holding discussions with the other permanent members of the UN Security Council.

But, increasingly, it looks as if no resolution will come from the Security Council unless Russia and China abstain as they did for Libya, rather than use their veto.

If the vetoes were used on this occasion, and the USA (and other Western powers such as France) still launched missiles amid a civil war in Syria, it would surely only further worsen the situation there.

Bombs to stop bombs has rarely been the right answer in recent times.

And so, while it is a pipe dream at the moment, my final wishes on this posting must be simply to hope Syria - and indeed the wider Middle East - will eventually find peace.

It has to happen someday.

WHEN PARLIAMENT HITS BACK
Full list of 285 MPs who voted against the principle of military action in Syria
Conservative (30) David Amess, Steve Baker, Richard Bacon, John Baron, Andrew Bingham, Crispin Blunt, Fiona Bruce, Tracey Crouch, David TC Davies, Philip Davies, David Davis, Nick de Bois, Richard Drax, Gordon Henderson, Philip Hollobone, Adam Holloway, Dr Phillip Lee, Dr Julian Lewis, Tim Loughton, Jason McCartney, Nigel Mills, Anne Marie Morris, Andrew Percy, Sir Richard Shepherd, Sir Peter Tapsell, Andrew Turner, Martin Vickers, Charles Walker, Chris White, Dr Sarah Wollaston 
Labour (224) Diane Abbott, Debbie Abrahams, Bob Ainsworth, Douglas Alexander, Heidi Alexander, Rushanara Ali, Graham Allen, David Anderson, Jonathan Ashworth, Adrian Bailey, William Bain, Ed Balls, Gordon Banks, Kevin Barron, Hugh Bayley, Margaret Beckett, Anne Begg, Hilary Benn, Joe Benton, Luciana Berger, Clive Betts, Gordon Birtwistle, Tom Blenkinsop, David Blunkett, Kevin Brennan, Lyn Brown, Nicholas Brown, Russell Brown, Chris Bryant, Karen Buck, Andy Burnham, Liam Byrne, Alan Campbell, Ronnie Campbell, Martin Caton, Jenny Chapman, Katy Clark, Tom Clarke, Vernon Coaker, Ann Coffey, Yvette Cooper, Jeremy Corbyn, Mary Creagh, Stella Creasy, Jon Cruddas, Alex Cunningham, Jim Cunningham, Tony Cunningham, Margaret Curran, Simon Danczuk, Alistair Darling, Wayne David, Gloria De Piero, John Denham, Jim Dobbin, Frank Dobson, Thomas Docherty, Frank Doran, Stephen Doughty, Jim Dowd, Gemma Doyle, Jack Dromey, Michael Dugher, Angela Eagle, Maria Eagle, Clive Efford, Julie Elliott, Louise Ellman, Natascha Engel, Bill Esterson, Chris Evans, Paul Farrelly, Frank Field, Jim Fitzpatrick, Robert Flello, Caroline Flint, Paul Flynn, Hywel Francis, Mike Gapes, Barry Gardiner, Sheila Gilmore, Pat Glass, Mary Glindon, Roger Godsiff, Paul Goggins, Helen Goodman, Tom Greatrex, Kate Green, Nia Griffith, Andrew Gwynne, David Hamilton, Fabian Hamilton, Harriet Harman, Tom Harris, Dai Havard, John Healey, Mark Hendrick, Stephen Hepburn, Meg Hillier, Margaret Hodge, Kate Hoey, Jim Hood, Kelvin Hopkins, George Howarth, Tristram Hunt, Huw Irranca-Davies, Glenda Jackson, Sian James, Cathy Jamieson, Dan Jarvis, Alan Johnson, Graham Jones, Helen Jones, Kevan Jones, Susan Elan Jones, Tessa Jowell, Eric Joyce, Gerald Kaufman, Liz Kendall, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy, Ian Lavery, Mark Lazarowicz, Chris Leslie, Emma Lewell-Buck, Ivan Lewis, Ian Lucas, Fiona Mactaggart, Khalid Mahmood, Shabana Mahmood, Seema Malhotra, John Mann, Gordon Marsden, Steve McCabe, Michael McCann, Kerry McCarthy, Gregg McClymont, Andy McDonald, John McDonnell, Pat McFadden, Alison McGovern, Jim McGovern, Anne McGuire, Ann McKechin, Iain McKenzie, Catherine McKinnell, Michael Meacher, Alan Meale, Edward Miliband, Andrew Miller, Madeleine Moon, Jessica Morden, Graeme Morrice, Grahame M. Morris, George Mudie, Jim Murphy, Paul Murphy, Ian Murray, Lisa Nandy, Pamela Nash, Fiona O'Donnell, Chi Onwurah, Sandra Osborne, Albert Owen, Teresa Pearce, Toby Perkins, Bridget Phillipson, Stephen Pound, Lucy Powell, Nick Raynsford, Jamie Reed, Steve Reed, Rachel Reeves, Jonathan Reynolds, Linda Riordan, John Robertson, Geoffrey Robinson, Steve Rotheram, Frank Roy, Lindsay Roy, Chris Ruane, Joan Ruddock, Anas Sarwar, Andy Sawford, Alison Seabeck, Virenda Sharman, Barry Sheerman, Jim Sheridan, Gavin Shuker, Dennis Skinner, Andy Slaughter, Andrew Smith, Nick Smith, Owen Smith, Jack Straw, Graham Stringer, Gisela Stuart, Gerry Sutcliffe, Mark Tami, Gareth Thomas, Emily Thornberry, Stephen Timms, Jon Trickett, Derek Twigg, Stephen Twigg, Chuka Umunna, Keith Vaz, Valerie Vaz, Joan Walley, Tom Watson, Dave Watts, Dr Alan Whitehead, Chris Williamson, Phil Wilson, David Winnick, Rosie Winteron, Mike Wood, David Wright, Iain Wright
Liberal Democrats (9) Paul Burstow, Mike Crockart, Andrew George, Mike Hancock, Julian Huppert, Dan Rogerson, Andrew Stunell, Ian Swales, Sarah Teather, Roger Williams
Scottish & Welsh Nationalists (9) Jonathan Edwards, Stewart Hosie, Elfyn Llwyd, Angus MacNeil, Angus Robertson, Mike Weir, Dr Eilidh Whiteford, Hywel Williams, Pete Wishart
Various Northern Irish MPs (7) Gregory Campbell, Nigel Dodds, Jeffrey Donaldson, Brian Donohoe, Mark Durkan, Lady Hermon, Naomi Long, Alasdair McDonnell, Margaret Ritchie, Jim Shannon, Sammy Wilson
Others (2) George Galloway, Caroline Lucas

Thatcher dies but her politics live on

Baroness Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013), Prime Minister 1979-1990

MARGARET THATCHER, Britain's longest-serving and first - and so far only - female Prime Minister, has died at the age of 87, following a stroke.

Mrs Thatcher was PM from 1979 to 1990, and utterly transformed the country with her radical Right-wing policies during a controversial 11-year rule.

However, as shown by Meryl Streep's Oscar-winning portrayal of Mrs Thatcher in the film The Iron Lady, her recent years had been blighted by ill-health.

And, at Monday lunchtime, her friend and spokesman Lord Bell confirmed: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning."

The flags over Downing Street were lowered to half-mast, and Mrs Thatcher's latest successor, David Cameron said: "Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds. The real thing is she didn't just lead our country; she saved our country.

"I believe she will go down as the greatest British peacetime Prime Minister."

Tributes followed from across the political spectrum. Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "She will be remembered as a unique figure. She reshaped the politics of a whole generation.

"She was Britain's first woman prime minister. She moved the centre ground of British politics and was a huge figure on the world stage.

And deputy Prime Minister, the leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg added: "Margaret Thatcher was one of the defining figures in modern British politics.

"Whatever side of the political debate you stand on, no one can deny that as prime minister she left a unique and lasting imprint on the country she served."

Meanwhile, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Queen was sad to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher. Her Majesty will be sending a private message of sympathy to the family."

But Mrs Thatcher was also truly a divisive figure, and has indeed become a hate-figure for many on the Left, having privatised several state-run industries and been involved in long run-ins with trade unions.

The most famous of these was the miners' strike of 1984-85 when pit-workers and police officers held brutal, running battles, notably in Orgreave, South Yorkshire.

Ultimately, though, Mrs Thatcher won. Unemployment in these communities soared, and the communities themselves broke down and lost any sense of purpose.

For this, Mrs Thatcher will never be forgiven in the pit towns and mining villages. As far as they are concerned, they were considered collateral damage in her reforms and their wounds remain to this very day.

At the time, there were many unashamedly spiteful protest songs - notably Elvis Costello's Tramp The Dirt Down and Hefner's The Day That Thatcher Dies, which foretold her demise with children singing "Ding Dong, the witch is dead" in its closing section.

Of course, it mattered not. The political result was the same - victory for Mrs Thatcher.

Indeed, it was clear by the time New Labour were swept into power in 1997, replacing John Major's tired Tory administration, that the post-war consensus was over and free-market economics had become the order of the day.

Tony Blair, who was elected in 1997, paid tribute to Mrs Thatcher, describing her as a "towering political figure" who changed "not only the political landscape of their country but of the world".

Of course, just like Mrs Thatcher, Mr Blair won three general elections and did not lose one, before being forced out instead by an internal party rift.

But, unlike Mrs Thatcher, Mr Blair did not significantly change the political landscape of Britain, as he has admitted himself.

"I always thought my job was to build on some of the things she had done rather than reverse them," he said, and in doing so he has effectively rendered Labour and the Conservatives as two sides of the same coin.

Mr Blair's successor Gordon Brown even invited a frail Mrs Thatcher to Downing Street in a seemingly fruitless attempt to broaden his appeal.

Now, at this point, I should point out that my parents actually benefited from Mrs Thatcher's period in power. The Right to Buy scheme took them out of council accommodation and put them on the property ladder.

But, in many ways, they were fortunate. My dad had a steady job as an electrician with a sign firm and the company he worked for did not go bust - but many did, especially in the early 1990s recession.

This meant that a lot of people who bought their homes could not afford to repayments, and a lack of social housing, which the government felt was not much required, left no safety net to those who became insolvent.

Famously, as Chancellor, Mr Brown foolishly promised an end to Tory "boom and bust". But then, in 2008, coincidentally shortly after he had become PM himself, came the biggest crash since the Great Depression in 1930s.

Just like in Mrs Thatcher's day, growth in the economy under New Labour had been utterly reliant on the financial services sector and an unsustainable housing boom.

Nothing had changed, and still nothing has. Mrs Thatcher is dead but her politics live on.

Miliband still struggling to make an impression

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband declared himself to be "his own man" this week as he celebrated one year in charge of Her Majesty's Official Opposition at the party conference in Liverpool.

But the problem for Mr Miliband is that, so far, the public has not really liked what it has seen.

For, while Labour has had a consistent lead over the Conservatives in the polls throughout 2011, Mr Miliband's personal ratings are pretty dire.

As reported on the UK Polling Report website, only 18% of people think he has provided an effective opposition, and 64% think he has not. Only 19% think he has made it clear what he stands for, 66% do not.

And, perhaps most pertinently of all, only 19% of people think he would be up to the job of Prime Minister, compared to 62% who think he would not.

Indeed, even Labour supporters have failed to warm to Mr Miliband - 51% do not think he has provided an effective opposition, and 52% of them think he has not made it clear what he stands for.

A plurality of Labour supporters believe he would be up to the job as Prime Minister but the 45%-34% lead on this question is hardly a ringing endorsement.

So, if Mr Miliband struggles in convincing his own supporters, just what sort of impression has he given the population at large?

Well, a recent report by Populus for Lord Ashcroft on this matter suggests that most of the general public cannot get past the obstacle that, frankly, Mr Miliband comes across as a bit "weird".

His demeanour, his manner of speaking, his apparently reluctant marriage and his 'fraternicide' in the leadership election were all factors which people found decidedly odd.

Of course, such qualitative discussions can swiftly denigrate into the most base and populist of debates but this was not the first occasion in recent times that the word "weird" has been applied to a major UK politician.

Former Labour PM Tony Blair described his Conservative opponent William Hague as such.

Now, because Mr Miliband is "his own man", he distanced himself away from his predecessors and, indeed, the very mention of Mr Blair's name was booed by some sections of the conference hall.

It would be difficult to imagine the Conservative party conference giving Margaret Thatcher that sort of reception and yet the fact is that they both won three successive elections.

But, while Lady Thatcher's reputation on the Right remains largely unharmed, Mr Blair made such a negative impact in the end for Labour, Mr Miliband has been quick to emphasis their differences.

Last year, the newly-elected leader stated his clear opposition to the Iraq war.

This year, in his keynote speech, Mr Miliband attacked New Labour's cosy relationship with certain businesses in the City and Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

The problem for Mr Miliband on the latter issue is that he was seemingly just as keen to seek the approval of News International until the phone hacking scandal really took off in the summer.

Mr Miliband was also on the defensive about his plan to tax some private equity firms differently - though, in response, he came out with what was perhaps his best line of the week, stating he is "not anti-business but anti business-as-usual".

However, much damage was already done by BBC presenter Andrew Neil who ran rings around several baffled shadow cabinet ministers on his show.

The lack of clarity there was not the only setback which the party has faced over the last few days.

For, although Mr Miliband was successful in diluting the union bloc vote in future leadership elections, no one failed to spot the irony that his brother David would have almost certain won the contest under the new rules.

By far the most ludicrous moment of the week, though, came when Shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis suggested there should be a register of journalists who could be struck off if found guilty of serious wrongdoing.

The move was inevitably greeted with derision from all corners of Fleet Street with one journalist, writing on her blog, taking particular care to point out all the weaknesses of such a scheme.

Indeed, the best argument from Fleet Street Fox was that journalists, just like anyone else, remain subject to the ultimate regulation: the law.

Unsurprisingly, then, the register of journalists policy was quietly dropped that same evening in what has been described as the "fastest U-turn in history".

It seems, then, that Mr Miliband can do little to please anyone at the moment.

He made few friends with the Left at the Trade Unions Congress earlier this month when criticising some members' decision to strike while negotiations over pensions were ongoing.

Meanwhile, his attempt to distance himself from Mr Blair will have made the supporters on that wing of the party bristle at best.

Mr Miliband has already been given the hurry-up by the Fabian Society, a left-wing think tank, in the run-up to the conference.

Now, having left Liverpool without a major impression, the sands of time really are starting to slip away from him.

Labour conference: Ed attempts to make a clean break

ED MILIBAND marked his first speech as the new leader of Labour with an attempt to move his party away from the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown era.

Mr Miliband said he believed that the Iraq war was "wrong", and that he understood why voters were angry about the deregulation of the City and Mr Brown's promise of an end to 'boom and bust'.

The keynote address was Mr Miliband's first major job in his new role since he beat his brother David and three other candidates in the leadership election result on Saturday.

Mr Miliband won with 50.65% of the overall vote as compared to David's share of 49.35% in the final round after the elimination of Diane Abbott, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls.

During the campaign, Mr Miliband - who only entered Parliament in 2005 as MP for Doncaster North - had already positioned himself as the man who represented change.

For instance, he had already stated that he was opposed to the Iraq war in 2003.

By contrast, David Miliband was seen as the Blairite candidate of continuity, likely to keep faith with the New Labour ethos that had brought 13 years of power.

But that period ended in acrimony with policy created on the hoof, almost daily battles between Blairites and Brownites, an obsession with spin, and five million lost votes.

When Peter Mandleson criticised Mr Miliband's 2010 manifesto and put his weight behind frontrunner David, it was perhaps the last thing the older brother needed.

Not that the eventual victor Ed avoided scrutiny too.

Indeed, while the backing of the majority of the unions ultimately ensured his victory, it also led to the right-wing press almost immediately terming him 'Red Ed' for an apparent lurch to the left-wing.

Today, Mr Miliband shrugged off the nickname, stating he would not support "irresponsible strikes" and demanding a "grown up debate" on the state of politics to be held.

But he might be entering into that discourse without defeated brother David who is still yet to confirm whether he will stand in the ballot to enter the Shadow Cabinet.

The ballot closes at 5pm tomorrow evening and the longer it takes for David to make up his mind, the more likely it seems that the elder brother will be leaving frontline politics.

South Shields MP David has been nothing less than gracious since Saturday's defeat but notably disagreed with his younger brother's stance on Iraq, refusing to applaud that bit of the speech.

A snub from former foreign secretary David would be a hard early blow for Mr Miliband but at least the leadership election and conference has his party in an unfamiliar position of strength.

The coverage of the Labour conference has helped the party achieve a poll lead over the Conservatives in the Sun's YouGov daily tracker for the first time since the 'non-election' in the autumn of 2007.

It is also the first time in three years that Labour has polled at 40 percent, well up on the 29 percent they polled in May's general election.

But the lead is likely to be short-lived given the Tories are still just a point behind and will expect to see a similar boost from their conference next week.

The more pertinent aspects of the poll centred on Mr Miliband himself with a plurality of 43% expecting him to do well as Labour leader, against 23% who do not. 34% are undecided.

One-third of those surveyed thought trade unions will have too much influence over him while 29% disagreed and 38% didn't know.

Finally, 42% considered that he had moved the party to the left but only 19% thought that 'Red Ed' moniker was justified.

However, on the point of the 'Red Ed' description, again 51% were undecided - that is hardly a surprise so early into his leadership.

And so, it would seem Labour has actually made a sound choice in electing Mr Miliband ahead of his brother.

To the majority of the electorate, he is a blank canvas and, seemingly, the most convincing candidate with whom to make a clean break.

Being on the opposition benches can be a stifling, depressing existence but the new leader has made a solid, if rather unspectacular, start in his attempts to engage the public and move his party on.

But, having already spent six months of the new Parliament on electing a new leader, now is the time for Labour to provide some effective and, importantly, some united opposition.

That is ultimately the factor on which Ed Miliband will be judged.

Blair book is bad timing for Labour leadership contest

TONY BLAIR became renowned for his sound judgement of political timing while in office.

After all, Mr Blair was the man who was elected Labour leader in 1994 just as the Conservative government were at their most unpopular.

He then won two landslide election victories in 1997 and 2001 before winning a third general election in 2005 despite having controversially led the country into war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At this point, having served two full terms, Mr Blair was meant to hand over the premiership to Gordon Brown but he famously reneged on the deal.

Extracts of Mr Blair's new book The Journey make it clear why he was so wary of Mr Brown taking charge.

By 2005, their relationship had completely broken down. Mr Blair states in the book that Mr Brown was "maddening" to work with, and that the then-Chancellor threatened to stall Mr Blair's precious New Labour reforms.

Indeed, their partnership was in such tatters that Mr Blair had even consulted Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson over the task of getting rid of a 'star' player.

In the end, Mr Blair chose to keep his Chancellor and eventual successor, fearing that sacking him would only accelerate his rise to the top, given the standing he then held within the party.

When Mr Blair did eventually step down in 2007, his timing was spot on again as he avoided the unforeseen global recession which ended up plaguing Mr Brown's three years in charge.

However, today's occasion, the timing of the release of Mr Blair's memoirs leaves a lot to be desired for Labour, overshadowing a vital stage of the party's leadership contest.

Worse still, Mr Blair and his long-time ally Peter Mandleson seem intent on reviving New Labour politics during the contest even though it is now associated more with infighting than anything constructive.

If nothing else, Mr Blair's book simply acts as a reminder as to how divisive government became under New Labour, a major factor in its eventual failure at the polls in May.

And yet, Labour look set to select more of the same with Blairite former foreign secretary David Miliband holding a comfortable lead in all of the polls of the leadership contest.

Despite his words to the contrary, it is hard to see how Mr Miliband is a clean break from the past. At least his brother Ed seems to have accepted New Labour's biggest mistakes such as the removal of the 10p tax band.

But this is the same Ed Miliband who wrote the manifesto for this year's failed general election campaign and that is something he is unlikely to shake off easily.

The other three candidates - Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott - would appear to have little or no chance of succeeding in this contest.

Indeed, backbencher Ms Abbott only ended up on the ballot paper by collecting MPs signatures which would have gone elsewhere but for the need to make the contest appear more inclusive.

The likely election of David Miliband to the leadership is unlikely to distinguish easily this Labour opposition to the New Labour government largely rejected by the public in May.

There remain fears among Labour circles that the party could be in for another long spell of opposition if the Conservatives improve their position at the next election.

Being Labour leader in the coming years could be a thankless task, perhaps even a poisoned chalice.

But then not all party leaders can be as lucky with their timing as Mr Blair.