A short while ago Tony Blair's Labour Party were humiliatingly defeated in a parliamentary byelection (special election) in one of their Scottish strongholds.
Dunfermline & West Fife
Liberal Democrats 35.8% (+15.6)
Labour 30.6% (-16.8)
Scottish National Party 18.9% (+2.1)
Conservatives 7.8% (-2.5)
Others 4.7% (+1.5)
Turnout 47.8%
Liberal Democrat Gain from Labour
This reduces Blair's majority to just 64
Labour 355
Conservative 198
Liberal Democrat 63
Others 30
This may seem a huge margin of leeway but Blair has already suffered four parliamentary setbacks in the past few months on issues like the detention of suspected terrorists and religious hatred as rebel Labour MPs have joined with the opposition parties to defeat his authoritarian proposals. He is already facing the prospect of further rebellions on subjects like education reform and cannot afford to lose any more MPs.
Having said that, the result was even more embarrassing for his likely successor as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Brown used to represent part of the Dunfermline & West Fife constituency until boundary changes prior to the last General Election. He still lives in the constituency and is now represented in Parliament by a Liberal Democrat MP.
Finally the revival of the Conservatives under their new leader David Cameron was also dealt a blow. During the campaign Cameron tried to appeal to voters by desperately claiming the mantle of liberalism by issuing a letter to the electorate stating that he is a liberal Conservative. Acting Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell paraphrasing Bentsen in the 1988 Vice-Presidential debate said, "I know Liberals and you are no Liberal!". Clearly the voters were not taken in.
A good night for progressive politics in the UK