vote so dramatically demonstrated in these two by-elections. The state of public services and local concerns also played a part. Nor should anything detract from the achievement of the Liberal Democrats...The Lib Dem leader, Charles Kennedy, had every right to declare as the results came in that this was 'no flash in the pan' ... The fact is that, in these two votes, as in other recent results, the Lib Dems have shown that they can unseat a ruling Labour majority as much as a Tory one." The Daily Mirrors Editorial stated: "It isn't often that defeat can leave you smiling, but Tony Blair must have been grinning all over his face [on Friday]. The night before Labour had lost one safe seat to the Lib Dems and only clung on to another by a few hundred votes. Yet what could have been a by-election disaster was not. For it was a catastrophe for [Conservative Party leader] Michael Howard. The Tories crawled in a poor third in both elections ... The voters of Leicester South and Birmingham Hodge Hill confirmed what the polls are saying - the British people have had enough of the Tories." References External links Birmingham City Council's elections office British Parliamentary By Elections: Campaign literature from the by-election Hodge Hill 2004 in England Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election