Lord Parkinson: Labour arrogance

Parkinson gives his reaction on Today Dur 2'08"

Victory is Early Boost for Hague's Leadership

Lord Parkinson said the result reflected Labour's "arrogance" in ditching its original candidate. "There was just this unease that was creeping into the minds of local people: these people think they own the country and it's time we told them that they'd better be a shade less arrogant," he said.

"If we'd lost people would have said `this is really the beginning of the end'. Now people see that there is a substantial number of Conservatives who didn't vote for us at the general election for one reason or another and are beginning to come back to us," he said.

John Prescott

Prescott: the result is not important Dur 4'46"

Labour can hardly feel worried by the result: they didn't win the seat at the election, and tensions between the local party and Walworth Road over the imposition of a new candidate -- Andy Slaughter -- made for a less than co-operative atmosphere.

The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott stressed that the seat was not a Labour loss: "I would have been concerned if it had been a Labour seat which we had lost. We fought a very good campaign, I was here a couple of times and Tony Blair came down to help too. But we must look forward now to focusing on the far more important task of governing the country."

Harvey: there wasn't much in it for us

Harvey: disappointing but not disastrous Dur 1'37"

The Liberal Democrats, who polled fewer than 2000 votes, were putting a brave face on the setback. MP Nick Harvey pointed out that the result was a slap in the face for the Labour Party, as well as for the local community. He said that his party was in a clear third place from the start, and that the absence of the Referendum Party encouraged its erstwhile supporters to return to their 'natural' home.

Mr Harvey said: "It was clearly perceived by the electors as a two-horse race between the others. I think the Conservatives will be pleased. I think Labour will have learned a bit of a lesson in that parachuting a candidate from outside was, I think, taken by local people as a bit of a slap in the face for the whole of the local community."