It’s Out With Old, In With New at Lightning Speed

LONDON — The transition team? A moving van.

The inaugural address? A few impromptu words of thanks delivered from the front step of the winner’s new address.

The lame duck? Dispossessed within hours.

Once again Friday, Britain lived up to its reputation as the slickest political scene-shifter in the West.

Within 14 hours after voting ended, a new government--and a new era--was up and running.

Polls closed at 10 p.m. Thursday, and by 3 a.m. the Labor Party led by Tony Blair had won a necessary majority in the House of Commons. Within an hour, Conservative Prime Minister John Major conceded.

Blair went to a party that lasted beyond dawn. Major went to bed.

At 9:30 a.m. Friday, a moving van pulled up to 10 Downing St., the residence of the prime ministers.

Mover Michael Gerson had been given until noon to pack up the Majors and get them out.

“When the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage, and that is what I propose to do,” Major said.

Around midday, Blair went to Buckingham Palace and, on being asked by Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, became prime minister.

Just after 1 p.m., Blair and his family arrived at Downing Street. He shook hands with cheering partisans, expressed his hopes for a bright national future and walked through the glossy black door.

By midafternoon Blair was at work and had named the first members of his Cabinet.

Major, shorn of his rank and his official car, went to a cricket match.

Even his replica at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum faced prompt ouster. The life-size model, in the center of a room full of world leaders, was swiftly replaced with Blair’s wax image.