London, Sept 19: Britain's ruling Labour Party has lost a key by-election to the opposition liberal democrats, according to the official result announced today, in what was seen as a mid-term test of Prime Minister Tony Blair's popularity. Incoming liberal democrat MP, Sarah Teather, overturned a huge Labour majority from the last general election to pip government candidate Robert Evans by 1,118 votes in the traditionally Labour-dominated London constituency of Brent East. The result marked the first by-election defeat for Labour in 15 years and came in the first electoral test of Blair's popularity since the Prime Minister led the nation into the US-led war on Iraq.

The by-election was prompted by the death in June of Labour MP Paul Daisley, 45, who succumbed after a long fight with cancer.
Daisley kept Brent east firmly in labour hands in the June 2001 general election when he clinched 63.2 percent of the vote against a field of seven rivals.
"This is not just a big boost for the liberal democrats, it is a big boost for British politics," said liberal democrat leader Charles Kennedy when he was assured of the election victory.

The election coincided with Blair's controversial bid to reform public services, starting with a shake-up of state-run hospitals which critics say will compromise the free-care-for-all principle of the national health service.
Bureau Report