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Labour's Coming Up Roses
In the early hours of Friday, as Labour looked set to enjoy its first election victory since 1974, Tony Blair was telling his supporters to "wait and see" while Peter Mandelson, Labour's campaign manager, was already commenting on the reasons behind Labour's success.
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Mandelson: it was New Labour 'what won it'
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"People have been coming to us steadily for the last 10 years. But it was the transformation, the re-birth of the Labour Party over the last two or three years that finally clinched it for people." When Asked whether Labour would be radical in Government, he said, "We will be
implementing a radical set of policies, but they will be the policies that are
contained in our manifesto.
Labour's Deputy Leader John Prescott greeted the BBC's exit poll as "wonderful". The exit poll has predicted a Labour landslide greater than their previous record victory, which was a majority of 146 in 1945.
The Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown was cautious in his assessment of the poll saying, "If we win, it's not just a rejection of the Conservatives, its about new Labour, a new type of politics for this country, our desire to tackle the social problems of which forms the basis of our manifesto."
Shadow Home Secretary Jack Straw added, "All of us will be delighted to
serve in any position in a Tony Blair Labour Government. It is a tremendous achievement."
Shadow Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said a Labour win would be thanks to Blair. "He has led from the front, he has led a united party behind him and he has offered to Britain the leadership that Britain sorely needs."
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