THE British Labour Party won an overwhelming endorsement from its members yesterday for its political strategy in forming the next government and immediately the leader of the party, Mr Tony Blair, called upon the government to call an early election.
Buoyed by the success of what is being called Labour's "mini manifesto", Mr Blair told a news conference that despite the voters' lingering doubts that the party could be reborn, he believed the modernisation of the party's structures and policies had been achieved by sweeping aside "any divisions there may once have been between old and new Labour."
With the members of the Labour Party voting by a majority of 19 to 1 to accept the mini manifesto, Mr Blair issued a challenge to the Prime Minister, Mr John Major, effectively calling for a general election at the earliest possible date.
Mr Blair said he could assure voters the Labour Party would "bring this government down and end it." It was his party's aim to expose the government's record of damage and "hammer home the message that `enough is enough'."
The result of the ballot means that the "New Labour, New Life for Britain" policy will form the core of Labour's manifesto at the general election, which must be called within the next six months.
Mr Blair described the mini manifesto as "uncompromisingly unhesitatingly a New Labour document", which includes among its proposals cutting class sizes in schools to 30 or under for five to seven year olds and the implementation of a total ban on handguns and combat knives.
Additional pledges to the electorate in the document are aimed at reducing the waiting time for surgery for cancer patients, cutting tax on beating and introducing a basic rate of tax of 10p in the pound.
The Conservative Party Chairman, Dr Brian Mawhinney, denounced the statement by Mr Blair that 61 per cent (230,40 individual members) of Labour delegates took part in the vote. He called the exercise "a ludicrous charade that had more in common with an Albanian plebiscite than a democratic election.
In the continuing controversy over Mr Blair's views on abortion, he was asked yesterday to comment on a decision by the anti abortion group, LIFE, to field candidates against pro choice MPs at the general election.
Mr Blair said he did not know any sensible person who was in favour of abortion. "The question is whether the criminal law is right to be the instrument that determines the decision of a woman in what can often be extremely painful and agonising circumstances," he added.
PA reports:
A specially convened meeting of the Kensington and Chelsea Conservative Association executive committee failed last night to endorse a motion of confidence in, former Northern Ireland Office minister Sir Nicholas Scott MP.
The association chairman, Mr Andrew Dalton, said the committee, which was convened after the discovery of the former minister - face down on a pavement during the Conservative Party conference at Bournemouth, was "unable to endorse a motion of confidence in Sir Nicholas Scott as their prospective parliamentary candidate".
He said Sir Nicholas had asked to speak to the general committee of his local Conservative association to put his case to continue as MP for the constituency.
Mr Dalton agreed to the meeting, which he said would take place at a later date.