Labour pair who stood up to Blair return to Commons with slim majorities

LABOUR’S Frank Dobson and Glenda Jackson have held onto their Camden parliamentary seats despite haemorrhaging votes at Thursday’s general election.
Both MPs claimed, after their victories had been confirmed – shortly after 1.30am at the count at the Town Hall on Friday, that their willingness to take on Prime Minister Tony Blair over issues such as the Iraq War, tuition fees and foundation hospitals had proved crucial to holding off a surging challenge from the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Dobson was returned in Holborn and St Pancras with a majority of 4,787, effectively turning this once rock solid Labour stronghold into a marginal – in 1997 the former health secretary’s majority was 17,903.
His 14,857 tally amounted to 43.2 per cent of the vote.
But his victory margin was tighter than even his opponents had expected, as Liberal Democrat challenger Jill Fraser nearly doubled her party’s votes and moved close enough to an overall victory to scare Labour organisers.
Her gains amounted to an 11 per cent swing from Labour to the Lib Dems. The constituency is now bound to be on the Lib Dems’ list of main targets at the next election.
With 10,070 votes, she increased her share of the vote by 11.3 per cent.
She said: “This has been my own Oscar moment. Seeing so many ticks by the little yellow bird was a moving experience – especially since I only decided to stand in January.”
Tory challenger Margot James had to make do with third place as the Conservatives polled 6,482 – a 18.9 per cent share of the poll, up two per cent.
Green Party candidate Adrian Oliver polled 2,798. He said: “In 2001 we received six per cent of the vote. We’ve now increased that by more than a third.”
In Hampstead and Highgate, Ms Jackson was returned for a third time, but made no attempt to put a positive spin on a result in which she lost votes to the Lib Dems and Tories as her share of the poll plummeted by 8.6 per cent.
Ms Jackson said: “I’m just grateful my majority is as big as it is. I do not know where the votes have gone, but I feel people were seeking to send a message to the Labour leadership either by not voting or casting a vote in protest for one of the smaller parties.”
The result, which saw Ms Jackson’s majority cut from 7,876 to 3,742, represents a 6.3 swing from Labour to the Conservatives, but second-place Tory Piers Wauchope had to fight claims that the swing was founded on Lib Dem gains.
The leader of the Conservative group on Camden Council said: “The thing about this election is the Lib Dems managed to convince voters that voting for them would make a difference instead of voting for the party (Conservatives) that could.
“As a result, the votes were wasted on the third party when they could have been used to make a difference.”
The Lib Dems came close to pinching second place. Ed Fordham, the last-minute candidate drafted into replace Jonathan Simpson, who defected to the Labour Party, improved the Lib Dem total from 7,273 to 10,293.
Mr Fordham said: “Clearly, the seat is now a marginal, with the Liberal Democrats just 4,000 votes off winning.”
Green candidate Sian Berry netted 2,013 – 5.3 per cent of the poll.