To win an election with a majority of 67 is clearly well short of a full-scale political disaster: but the reduction of New Labour's majority from 161 to 67 has been generally been interpreted as a "kick in the ballots" for Tony Blair.
To win with the lowest vote and the lowest share of the vote in recent memory is far from a triumph, and the fact that Blair scraped back in at all is to a large extent thanks to the widespread revulsion at the prospect of Michael Howard stepping in to Downing Street rather than any genuine affection or enthusiasm for New Labour.
But he got away with it, and won the historic third term: and now the debate continues on the extent to which Blair himself has now become New Labour's main political liability, and on how many of the Party's domestic policies have alienated its previous supporters.
However many votes were lost through student fees, Foundation Hospitals and privatisation, it is commonly agreed by pundits from left and right that the factor which above all has undermined Blair and the Party's electoral standing has been the Iraq war, Blair's toadying to George Bush, and the lies and falsehoods used to justify the invasion and occupation.
Blair himself could be seen holding himself rigid with embarrassment at his own constituency count in Sedgefield, when Reg Keys, who won 10 percent of the vote as the father of a British soldier killed in Iraq, banged
lies • WAR LIES Two years on the war is still a potent factor knocking Blair home Blair's own wretched refusal to apologise or admit to having waged an illegal war on the basis of lies.
As Blair's growing body of back-bench critics (many of them. ousted former frontbench supporters) step up the pressure for him to stand down early, it is clear that the incoming New Labour government will have to trim its sails to a rather different wind.
Indeed the next captain, Gordon Brown, appears to be reluctant to step up to the helm too soon, recognising that the situation is dominated by a series of issues which could further rock the ship of government - and weaken Brown before he is able to take control.
Among the unresolved issues that were put on hold before the election are: IRAQ: the fresh upsurge of resistance to the US-led occupation after the appointment of the elected government underlines the failure either to pacity or to reconstruct the shattered remnants of Iraq. This means that British soldiers will continue to fight alongside the US and inflict ongoing civilian casualties for years to come, with no real scenario or timetable for withdrawal. PUBLIC SECTOR PENSIONS: where Blair personally intervened to stave off a damaging confrontation with the unions in March, but where the government must either raise more money or press home the original attack on public sector workers, forcing up their retirement age, slashing the value of benefits. CIVIL SERVICE JOBS: plans to axe over 100,000 jobs from the civil service as part of "efficiency" savings of £21 billion proposed by a government-commissioned report by city management consultant Sir Peter Gershon have still not been carried through: