Embattled Blair Shuffles Cabinet

Blair, Criticized On Iraq, Changes Defense Leadership

(CBS/AP)  Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled his Cabinet on Friday, changing leadership in defense, health and the House of Commons, and putting his government back in business after a third term victory that was dampened by a reduced majority.

Blair, who decided to skip a trip to Moscow next week to mark the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over the Nazis, focused on changes in his new government for most of Friday. Party leaders held meetings for much of the day.

Geoff Hoon was named leader of the House of Commons, John Reid became Defense Secretary and Patricia Hewitt left her post as Trade Secretary for Health Secretary.

Key figures such as Treasury chief Gordon Brown — widely seen as Blair's likely successor — kept his post as Chancellor of the Exchequer while Jack Straw remained Foreign Secretary.

Blair weathered a backlash over the Iraq war to win a historic third term as prime minister Friday, but with a reduced majority that could weaken his mandate and prompt him to step aside earlier than he plans.

Voter opposition to the war and critics who claimed Blair had followed president Bush into battle based on shaky intelligence cost him credibility and votes, reports CBS News Correspondent Richard Roth.

Speaking outside his Downing Street office Friday morning, the prime minister looked more humbled than triumphant, reports CBS News Correspondent Charles D'Agata.

"It's a tremendous honor and a privilege to be elected for a third term. And I'm acutely conscious of that honor and that privilege," Blair said, speaking outside his Downing Street office.

"I know that Iraq has been a deeply divisive issue in this country. ... But I also know and believe that after this election, people want to move on, they want to focus on the future — in Iraq and here," he said.

With the count still incomplete, but the Labour Party's majority assured, Blair went to Buckingham Palace on Friday morning to be confirmed as prime minister for the third time.

Traditionally, Queen Elizabeth II confirms the winner of the national election as prime minister, providing she believes that person commands a sufficient majority in the House of Commons to be able to carry on Her Majesty's Government.

Labour needed at least 324 seats to form a majority in the 646-seat House of Commons. With 620 seats reporting, Labour had 353 seats; the main opposition Conservatives 195; Liberal Democrats 60; and independents and smaller parties 12. Labour's majority of 161 in the last Parliament had been slashed by almost 100 seats.

The loss of so many seats by Labour makes it unlikely that Blair will complete this five-year term as prime minister before being replaced by his party, reports D'Agata. His Cabinet colleague and rival, powerful Treasury chief Gordon Brown, is widely regarded as his likely successor.

Nevertheless, it was a historic victory for Blair and his party — the first time a Labour government has won three straight elections.