The liberal prospect now

Oliver Kamm provide perhaps the most prescient analysis of the election for the progressives:

"I am pleased that Jack Straw fended off an unscrupulous campaign against him by
Islamist pressure groups. I am pleased that Tony Blair increased his personal
majority despite the Independent candidature of a man who has suffered tragedy
but not injustice, and whose supporters appear to have overestimated his
prospects on the basis of no tangible evidence. Among former comrades of mine, I
am glad to see the return of Phil Woolas, David Miliband and John Mann.

Overall, I am afraid there is no escaping the conclusion that Tony Blair
irrevocably damaged his political standing by committing troops to the Iraq war;
had the war not taken place, we can reasonably assume that he would have enjoyed
a substantial - and given its unprecedented character in Labour politics -
triumphant third election victory. Many, probably almost all, Labour supporters
would regard this as an indictment of the PM. I regard it as a measure of the
man's political stature. Knowing that the character of the threats we face has
changed since 9/11 - indeed since long before that - Blair chose to ally with a
nominally conservative US administration in a war that needed to be fought, when
the policy of containment of Saddam Hussein had manifestly failed, and the
toleration of autocratic states in the region was an affront to our values and a
gathering storm over our security."

Tony Blair, Labour, Oliver Kamm