It was a perfect birthday present for British Prime Minister Tony Blair who turned 52 on May 6. He had achieved what even former premier James Harold Wilson could not: a third consecutive Labour victory, winning 356 of the 645 seats. But his triumph was dampened by the reduced party lead: from 167 in 2001 to 67 in 2005. It also brought untold pressure on Blair, the architect of New Labour, to step down. Blair insists he will finish his term, but with party MPs demanding that Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown replace him, he may have to give in sooner than later. For now, he is trying to weather the storm.

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MOMENT OF GLORY: Blair with wife Cherie (left) celebrating the win

The May 5 elections will be remembered for being Iraq-centric, with the prime minister acknowledging, "Iraq has been a divisive issue, but I hope we can unite now." Far from it, he may have a battle on his hands. George Galloway, the ex-Labour MP who stood in Bethnal Green and Bow on a single issue-Iraq-beat the sitting Labour MP Oona King and promised, "It is one of my first missions to bring Tony Blair in front of a court in The Hague and behind bars."

Iraq may or may not claim Blair as its latest casualty, but ethnic minorities have certainly strengthened their position in Parliament. As many as 15 Black and Asian MPs have been elected, of whom six are Indian. But compared to the presence of minorities in the country-8 per cent-their number in Parliament is disproportionately low. The prominent British Indian MPs who have retained their seats include former cabinet minister Keith Vaz in Leicester East; Parmjit Dhanda, at 33 the youngest Asian MP, in Gloucester; Marsha Singh in Bradford West and Piara Khabra in Ealing Southall. While the Labour Party maintained its lead in the final tally, the Liberal Democratic Party lost its only Indian candidate, Paramjit Singh Gill, who was defending his Leicester South seat. Gill delivered a resounding victory for the party in a by-election last year, but could not face the Labour onslaught this time. Overall, the Lib-Dems performed well, winning 62 seats, the highest in decades. Lord Navnit Dholakia, former chairman of Lib-Dem, says, "I am very excited. It is the first time that the party has marked a national presence."

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D-DAY: Voters outside a polling booth

For the first time, the Tories too fielded 41 Black and Asian candidates and made a mark with their sole Indian-origin MP Shailesh Vara and first-ever Black MP Adam Afriyie securing convincing wins. "My election proves that the ethnic minorities in Britain can achieve whatever they aspire to," says Vara, who contested from former prime minister John Major's constituency. The party that offered only "no-hope" seats to Asians, seems keen to reverse its image. Praising the new trend, Vara says, "There was a time the party had no ethnic minority MPs and now we have two. It points to an enormous potential for the future." Even though Vara, Sandip Verma, Rishi Saha (all Asians and immigrants) stood as Tory candidates, the party's main issue was "control immigration". Tory leader Michael Howard made it the single most important issue and alienated several diehard Tories like Surina Narula.

The election results proved that race and immigration do not work as national issues. For even though immigration helped Tories win seats in South-East UK, the party lost votes nationally. For Indians, bread-and-butter issues were more important. Politically, it revealed that Blacks and Asians "hold the balance of power in over 70 seats, that could be the difference between success and failure for all three leaders", according to Operation Black Vote, an organisation that tracks Black and Asian votes in the UK. In the past, Indians have overwhelmingly voted for Labour and in areas with Indian concentration like Brent, Harrow, Leicester and Southall, Labour's thrust on economy and investment in public serves were appreciated. However, in areas with strong Muslim population, the Iraq war was the main issue. So Bethnal Green and Bow with 45,000 Bangladeshis voted out King who stood by Blair in the war.

MINORITY WINNERS

NAME CONSTITUENCY PARTY KHALID MAHMOOD PERRY BARR, BIRMINGHAM LABOUR MARSHA SINGH BRADFORD WEST LABOUR DAWN BUTLER BRENT SOUTH LABOUR SHAILESH VARA CAMBRIDGESHIRE NW CON SHAHID MALIK DEWSBURY LABOUR PIARA KHABRA EALING SOUTHALL LABOUR MOHAMED SARWAR GLASGOW GOVAN LABOUR PARMJIT DHANDA GLOUCESTER LABOUR DIANE ABBOTT HACKNEY NORTH LABOUR KEITH VAZ LEICESTER EAST LABOUR ASHOK KUMAR MIDDLESBROUGH SOUTH LABOUR MARK HENDRICK PRESTON LABOUR SADIQ KHAN TOOTING LABOUR DAVID LAMMY TOTTENHAM LABOUR ADAM AFRIYIE WINDSOR CON

With Blair back in the saddle and his trusted lieutenants as chancellor, foreign secretary, home secretary, benefits secretary and deputy prime minister, there has been virtually no cabinet shuffling. Jack Straw continues as foreign secretary, so there is unlikely to be any change in Indo-UK ties. Blair has always supported India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. As renowned economist and Labour Peer Lord Meghnad Desai points out, "The question of India's seat in the Council does not loom as large in Whitehall as it does in South Block. There is a bipartisan agreement that the UK is friendly to India and will support Indian aspirations." In fact, with outsourcing likely to continue to get a boost from the new Government, and Indophiles like Straw and Patricia Hewitt back in important positions, the poll results are being seen as advantageous for India.

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