After 18 consecutive years in power, the Conservative Party has witnessed what may be an omen of its defeat.
The opposition Labor Party's landslide victory Thursday in a special election - one of a series of Conservative losses during the past five years - left Conservative Prime Minister John Major with a parliamentary minority and has cast serious doubt on the party's chances in upcoming national elections.A last-minute government deal with nine Northern Ireland Protestant legislators from the Ulster Unionist Party, however, meant Major is likely to survive until May 1, the expected date for the elections.
Labor needs the support of all the smaller parties to topple the government and force an earlier ballot.
The Conservatives came to power under Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Major became prime minister in 1990.
Voters in Wirral South, a longtime Conservative district in northwest England, handed Labor candidate Ben Chapman 53 percent of the vote in Thursday's election to fill the seat of a legislator who died in November.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Gun ban now law
Legislation banning most handguns, introduced after a man fatally shot 16 children last year, has become law in Britain.
The measure, which went into effect Thursday, makes an exception for .22-caliber weapons, often used in recreational shooting. But those weapons can only be kept at gun clubs.
The government said the law requires the destruction of as many as 200,000 privately held handguns. Gun owners will be compensated.
The handguns used in the March 13 attack at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, were all legally licensed to Thomas Hamilton, who killed himself after his rampage.