The end of "New" Labour, comrades?

Election results mostly in. Labour victorious, but their majority slashed to something like - 60-70 (depending on final results). George Galloway elected in Bethnall Green. Tories back in in St. Albans (how wrong I was!) and Blair sounding like he's trying desperately to appeal to the party. A victory speech this morning included the words “We’ve got a mandate to govern this country again. Yes there are good comrades who have fallen. But there are also extraordinary results that have come through tonight.” (FT)
Comrades? Yikes! Will Jack Straw be dusting off his volumes of Lenin's "Collected Works;" will Alun Milburn be re-opening his socialist bookshop? Strange things are afoot, it seems to me.
Anyway, as seriously as headlines like "Anti-Blair backlash gives Howard some heart" must be taken, at least, it seems, we'll see Gordon being installed in the not too distant future. Well you've got to start somewhere. Lib Dems looking very good for 2009 too; hopefully Britain will have tired of Mr. Howard's brand of whispered racism by that point.

Oh yeah, and our ludicrous electoral system (designed for a 2-party system) is in desperate need of reform, if you didn't know.