A former British envoy who campaigned over Tony Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq has failed in his bid to unseat Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
Craig Murray (46) was trying to oust Mr Straw from his Blackburn constituency by tapping into public anger over Iraq and what he called the government's zeal in joining US President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism".
Mr Murray, Britain's former envoy in Uzbekistan, said Mr Straw was as complicit as Blair with an immoral foreign policy.
But Mr Straw held his seat, taking 42 per cent of the vote ahead of the Conservative candidate who took 23 per cent.
Mr Murray finished in fifth place behind the Liberal Democrats and the far-right British National Party.
"Many predictions were made about the result in Blackburn," Mr Straw said. "We didn't lose, we had a terrific victory."
Mr Murray's 21-year diplomatic career came to an abrupt end late last year after he was withdrawn from Uzbekistan. He had accused the West of tacitly endorsing torture by using bogus confessions from prisoners in the authoritarian Central Asian state that has become a key ally of Washington.
Murray, who had campaigned in "Green Goddess" fire engines, had hoped to pick up votes from Blackburn's traditionally Labour Muslims who make up a quarter of the vote.