Blair pledges to govern 'wisely'
UK cabinet reshuffled
AFP, London
British Prime Minister Tony Blair reshuffled his cabinet Friday, keeping his popular heir-apparent Gordon Brown as finance minister, as he pledged to govern "wisely and sensibly" after his Labour Party won a third term in power in a general election that slashed its parliamentary majority by more than half. Jack Straw, a central figure in Blair's decision to take Britain into the Iraq war, will remain foreign secretary as Britain prepares to take over the rotating European Union presidency on July 1 and hosts the Group of Eight summit in Scotland on July 6-8. John Reid, formerly health secretary, became defence secretary, replacing Geoff Hoon who held the job throughout the Iraq conflict, then endured a public grilling over the suicide of former UN weapons inspector David Kelly. David Blunkett, forced to resign as home secretary last December amid a furore over a visa application for his lover's Filipina nanny, returned as secretary for work and pensions. Labour made history Thursday when it snared an unprecedented third straight term in power, winning 355 seats in the 646-seat House of Commons and 35.2 percent of the vote, against 197 for the Conser-vatives (32.3 percent) and 62 for the Liberal Democrats (22.1 percent).
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