 | 'Victor John Mason described it as an epic win: 'Three weeks ago, the SNP predicted a political earthquake. This is off the Richter scale. The tremors will be felt all the way to Westminster.' He added: 'Tonight we have removed the dead hand of Labour control.'' Ian Drury in the Daily Mail, 25 th July 2008. |  |
Gordon Brown's authority suffered a shattering blow as Labour crashed to a catastrophic defeat in Glasgow East early this morning.
In one of the biggest political upsets ever, a rock-solid Labour majority of 13,507 was demolished with an enormous 22 per cent swing to the triumphant Scottish National Party.
On a night of extraordinary political drama - including a nail-biting recount - the nationalists triumphed in the crunch by-election by a wafer-thin 365 votes - a disastrous result for the Prime Minister.
Victor John Mason described it as an epic win: 'Three weeks ago, the SNP predicted a political earthquake. This is off the Richter scale.
'The tremors will be felt all the way to Westminster.'
He added: 'Tonight we have removed the dead hand of Labour control.'
He had trounced Labour's 10,912 votes with a poll of 11,277. The Conservatives took the third place with 1,639 votes and Liberal Democrats polled 915.
A wave of voter anger at soaring food and fuel prices, the stuttering economy and resentment over the axing of the 10p tax rate and a hike in vehicle excise duty saw the seat wrenched from Labour for the first time in 86 years.
Defeat in the Scottish heartland was devastating for Mr Brown as it will reignite calls from Labour MP for him to fall on his sword. His enemies, meanwhile, could be emboldened to carry out a coup.
The PM was already reeling from humiliating by-election defeats in the former Labour stronghold of Crewe and Nantwich, and a wipeout in Henley, as his premiership has stumbled from crisis to crisis.
Losing in what was considered an almost impregnable Labour stronghold will cement a deepening sense of despair among the party's MPs who are increasingly convinced that they are sleepwalking to catastrophe at the next General Election.
Mr Brown's troops at Westminster - especially those hanging on to marginal constituencies - will now have several weeks to ponder on the political future as the Commons broke up for summer this week.
Until now, there has been no indication that a senior figure with enough credibility was ready to spark an attempt to topple the Prime Minister even though his fortunes have unravelled spectacularly barely a year into office.
But whisperings are likely to increase following the Glasgow East defeat, piling pressure on Mr Brown ahead of the crucial party conference in September.
Minutes after the polls closed, senior Labour sources were predicting a heavy defeat to the SNP.
Labour's campaign got off to a rocky start when its first-choice candidate pulled out at the last moment, but Margaret Curran - already a Glasgow MSP - is widely thought to have fought a solid battle.
During a day of shifting fortunes, Labour's initially spoke optimistically of scraping a narrow four-figure victory.
Activists was said to be 'upbeat' in stark contrast to the campaign team's despondency in the days the trouncing by the Tories in Crewe.
Labour swamped the constituency with 400 extra activists to get the vote out today and candidate Margaret Curran declared: 'The Labour fightback is under way and we are on our way.'
By early evening anxiety had set in and Labour insiders were briefing that the by-election was 'too close to call'. But shortly after the ballot boxes were sealed at 10pm, well-placed sources had claimed they were on course to 'lose heavily'.
Led by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, the SNP were delighted to achieve the enormous 22 per cent swing needed to overturn Labour's massive majority.
In a last-ditch drive to get voters out, the SNP distributed leaflets displaying images of Mr Brown meeting Lady Margaret Thatcher - still a much-derided figure north of the border - at Downing Street last year.
Even without any official result, SNP candidate John Mason was given a hero's welcome as he arrived at the count.
The party's health minister Nicola Sturgeon also came close to declaring victory, saying it had been a 'tremendously good' night.
It was the SNP's first by-election triumph over Labour for 20 years.
The Glasgow East by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labour MP David Marshall on health grounds, although there was speculation that he jumped ship after his taxpayer-funded Commons expenses had come under close scrutiny.
Last night turnout in the constituency was 42.2 per cent - an impressive figure for a by-election and only 6 per cent down on the 48 per cent who cast a vote at the last general election in 2005.
Then, Labour cruised home with a massive 60.7 per cent of votes cast, beating the Scottish Nationalists by 18,775 to 5,268.
This time, nine candidates had contested the Westminster seat, which was left vacant following the resignation of Labour's David Marshall.
Return to home page