All that stood between the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and a second election victory for Labour was a decision by British voters not to answer his call and exercise their vote yesterday - and early indications did indeed suggest voting was slow.
Concerns that voters would stay at home, turned off by a rather lacklustre campaign, appeared to have some substance early in the day when election officials described voting as patchy.
Although the polls stayed open until 10 p.m. and most people cast their vote on the journey home from work, in Southampton the turnout was predicted at between 60 and 65 per cent compared with 70 per cent in 1997, and early voting in Scotland, Liverpool and London was also sluggish.
Wales bucked the trend and voting in the principality was reported as brisk, but normal, from early in the day. Voters in Wales traditionally record a relatively high turnout for elections compared with the rest of the country.
In Ceredigion, one election official said: "The first hour was brisk with people voting on their way to work and things seem to be going pretty well."
The effect of a low vote was hard to discern, but it appeared that Labour was getting the votes where it most needed them. The Liberal Democrats were depending on a degree of tactical voting, which appeared to surface in their victory at Torbay, and were expected to improve significantly upon their tally of 46 MPs.
The prospect of an exceptionally low poll appeared to be dramatically borne out by the early results, with the average turnout in the first five seats to declare at only 50 per cent.
Mr David Blunkett, who won his own seat in Sheffield Brightside with a huge majority, earlier expressed concern at the low turnout and said it was something politicians would have to address the causes of.
Apart from the 659 Westminster seats, votes were also being cast in elections for 34 county councils and 11 unitary authorities.