Tony Blair completely ignored Labour's latest woes up in Scotland today as he urged rebel backbenchers and party activists to get behind the leadership ahead of crucial Commons votes next week on ID cards and terror legislation.
The Lib Dems scored a stunning by-election win last night, earning a 16 per cent swing against Labour to capture the constituency of Dunfermline and West Fife, where Gordon Brown has his family home.
The defeat was seen as a personal setback for the Chancellor and a blow to his credibility as Britain's next Prime Minister. Willie Rennie, Mr Brown's new MP, crowed that voters had sent "a powerful message to Downing Street that will rock the foundations of both No 10 and No 11".
"Labour has taken the people for granted up and down the country for too long," Mr Rennie added in his victory speech. "It is time Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both got the message — too much spin and not enough delivery. The Lib Dems are now the major challenger to Labour in their heartland."
But if either man was listening, they were not letting on. The Chancellor was in Moscow for a G8 finance ministers' meeting and Mr Blair signally failed to mention the Scottish result in a speech to Labour's spring conference in Blackpool.
Instead, he looked ahead to Commons battles next week, when MPs will vote on ID cards and anti-terror legislation that will make "glorification" of terrorism an offence, and to the Government's equally controversial education reforms.
Mr Blair told delegates at the Winter Gardens: "Over the coming weeks, there are two issues that stand out: security and schools reform. Both involve difficult legislation. Both involve much dissent, external and internal.
"But I ask us to approach both not as politicians but as people. Think of security from the standpoint of the citizen and the hard-working family that plays by the rules and only asks that others do the same. Think of schools not as MPs or local government leaders but as parents, who want the best for our kids.
"Next week, we have two critical votes, on the ID cards Bill and on the terrorism legislation. In both cases, we are told the measures are unnecessary or are a breach of people’s fundamental civil liberties.
"The Tories and Lib Dems have combined in the House of Lords, on behalf of the political-legal establishment, to tell us how wrong we are, despite both being strong and explicit manifesto commitments."
The Prime Minister said the votes were not just crucial in themselves, but would sent out a strong message of the Government's intent.
Referring to protests over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, he 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. But nothing, I repeat nothing, can justify the violent retribution visited on innocent people or embassies round the world or the glorifying of acts of terrorism including those of 7/7 here in Britain.
"Of course, it is only the work of a minority of extremists. Of course, moderate Muslim opinion is also outraged. But the fact that such demonstrations, with such messages of hate, have taken place illustrates precisely the need for clearer and stronger legislation as we are advocating.
"Yet next week, MPs from the opposition parties and some of our own will join forces to try to remove references to glorification not just from the law of indirect incitement to commit terrorism, but also from the rules governing our ability to proscribe extremist groups whose purpose is to glorify terrorism.
"In addition, they are trying to stop the police having the summary and swift power to order providers to shut down the internet sites that recruit, inflame or assist adherents to the extremists’ cause.
"This is despite the UN Security Council Resolution, which we signed in September and which called on all countries to take measures against this extremism, specifically citing ‘glorification’ of terrorism as one of the manifestations of it.
"It simply beggars belief that we send such a signal at such a time."
Asked earlier about Mr Blair's response to the Fife by-election defeat, Mr Blair's official spokesman had told reporters to listen to his conference speech in Blackpool and its message of reform.
But in Dunfermline itself, where party activists nursed their electoral hangover in a local coffee shop, Alastair Darling, the Scottish Secretary, blamed the defeat on local issues such as a row over tolls on the Forth Road Bridge and the downgrading of a local hospital.
Mr Darling, who is also Secretary of State for Transport, took pains to accept "full responsibility" for Labour's campaign in the seat, despite Mr Brown's leading role - he helped launch the campaign, persuaded other Labour MPs to join in and made no less than four appearances in the constituency.
"This is a by-election we should have won. We did not win, it was a bad result for us, there is no getting away from that," Mr Darling told a press conference at a Dunfermline coffee shop where Labour activists were nursing their electoral hangover.
"What is perfectly obvious is that our vote did not come out enough, and the opposition vote coalesced around the Liberal Democrat candidate.
"Yesterday people were sending off a very clear message about a range of matters - they weren’t electing a Government. When they were electing a Government, eight months ago, we had a good majority in Dunfermline and West Fife and Gordon had a good majority in his seat.
Mr Brown now finds himself in the invidious position of being one of Mr Rennie's own constituents as he prepares to take over from Mr Blair as Prime Minister. After boundary changes before the last election, his home in Inverkeithing is inside the Dunfermline seat and many of the voters in the constituency would previously have been Brown voters.
The region around the seat has long been considered Mr Brown's political fiefdom and the scale of the defeat - after a campaign that the Chancellor himself helped to run - calls into question his ability to deliver voters elsewhere in the UK.
The Labour campaign got off to the worst possible start when a major computer printer firm, Lexmark, announced the closure of its local plant with the loss of 700 jobs in Rosyth, in the heart of the constituency. Turnout in the by-election was 48.7 per cent, down 11 per cent from the general election in May.
The Lib Dems were also helped by Labour incoherence over local issues such as the Forth Road Bridge tolls, the run-down state of the centre of Dunfermline and the downgrading of the local hospital.
The Lib Dem victory also appeared to be vote of confidence in Sir Menzies Campbell, the acting leader, who is MP for a neighbouring constituency of North East Fife - although Mr Rennie said that he has not yet decided whom to back for the Lib Dem leadership.
The Scottish Nationalists came third with 7,261 votes and the Conservatives, as expected, came fourth with 2,702 votes.
The poor Tory showing is an embarrassment for David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who made a direct appeal to Liberal Democrats in the constituency to come over to the Conservatives, claiming that he was a "liberal Conservative" and that his party now agreed with the Lib Dems on Iraq. That apparent gaffe was exploited to the full by Tony Blair in the Commons but he may well have helped the Lib Dem cause.
BY-ELECTION
WILLIE RENNIE (Lib Dem)
12,391 (35.83%)
Lab 10,591 (30.63%)
SNP 7,261 (21.00%)
Con 2,702 (7.81%)
Majority 1,800
Turnout 48.69%
GENERAL ELECTION May 2005
RACHEL SQUIRE (Lab) 20,111 (47.44%)
Lib Dem 8,549 (20.17%)
SNP 8,026 (18.93%)
Con 4,376 (10.32%)
Majority 11,562
Turnout 59.9%
