BRITAIN: Labour's depression over Tony Blair's leadership and the question of the succession deepened yesterday as the party failed to win back a former Welsh stronghold in one byelection and was pushed into fourth place in another.
But there was a wake-up call too for Conservative leader David Cameron as the Tories held Bromley and Chislehurst in southeast England, while seeing their general election majority of 13,342 slashed to just 633 by jubilant Liberal Democrats.
A YouGov poll published yesterday showed Mr Cameron as the first Tory leader to beat Mr Blair in the popularity stakes, with a majority also preferring him as prime minister ahead of a Labour government headed by Gordon Brown.
However, Conservative party chairman Francis Maude admitted that the result from Bromley was "a wake-up call" and that the party still had "a long way to go" on the path back to power.
Labour, meanwhile, failed to regain overall control in the Welsh Assembly when Mrs Trish Law retained her late husband Peter's Assembly seat, while his former agent, Dai Davies, held Blaenau Gwent against a powerful Labour machine in the Westminster contest.
Labour lost the seat in last year's general election when Mr Law stood as an independent in a bitter internal party row over women-only shortlists. Labour chairwoman Hazel Blears drew comfort from the fact that the new MP's majority was down from Mr Law's - 9,121 to 2,484.
While Labour had not had time to turn the situation around, Ms Blears insisted the result was "coming in the right direction" given a "unique set of circumstances" in the South Wales seat.
Anticipating the inevitable renewal of speculation about Mr Blair's eventual departure from 10 Downing Street, Ms Blears told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Labour MPs would not be getting what she referred to as "this fabled, mythical timetable" for the presumed handover to Mr Brown.
However, Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, called on Mr Blair to stand down about six months before next May's Welsh Assembly elections. Senior backbencher Gwyneth Dunwoody insisted the Blaenau Gwent result was "a wake-up call" and a demand for "a return to the fundamental things that Labour stands for".
Welsh first minister Rhodri Morgan conceded the result was "a massive disappointment", while suggesting it was also "therapeutic" because it gave the party the opportunity to listen to the people.