The crushing victory of Britain's Labour Party in Thursday's general elections presents Prime Minister Tony Blair with his greatest challenge. His progress since becoming party leader almost a decade ago has been remarkably smooth, and his remodeled party now enjoys a dominance in British politics equivalent to that of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in its heyday. Its defeat of the demoralized Conservatives in 1997 and again last week were victories there for the taking. Now Mr. Blair has to show that he can deliver in the important areas that proved beyond his scope in his first term.
His ambition to become the first Labour prime minister to serve two consecutive terms led Mr. Blair's first administration to adopt a cautious path. In particular, it set out to establish itself as a sound economic manager, sweeping away the lingering feeling that it was still a mere pretender to power, particularly after the long Conservative ascendancy under Mrs. Margaret Thatcher and Mr. John Major from 1979 to 1997. That has been achieved, powerfully aided by a fumbling performance by the Conservatives, whose choice of major election issues -- taxes, defense of the pound against the euro and the treatment of asylum seekers entering Britain -- did not accord with the major concerns of the electorate.
The consequence was last week's electoral result, which, in view of the high abstention rate, qualifies more as a vote of approval than an expression of enthusiasm. The good showing of the third party, the Liberal Democrats, confirms the extent of the doubts about Mr. Blair harbored by a significant section of center-left voters, doubts covering everything from his presidential style to the unwillingness of the party leadership to face up to uncomfortable facts and its pervasive use of media spin.