Double by-election test for Brown

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A by-election in Sedgefield is now expected on July 19 after the outgoing PM quit Parliament to take up a new role as a peace envoy in the Middle East.

Voters will also go to the booths to elect a replacement for veteran Ealing Southall Labour MP Piara Khabra, who died last week, aged 82.

Labour said it expected both to take place on July 19 but the final decision rests with local returning officers.

On Wednesday, Mr Blair was appointed envoy to the Quartet group - the United States, United Nations, the EU and Russia - seeking to broker peace in the Middle East.

He told constituents it would prevent him visiting the constituency and that it was "only right that the constituency has a full-time Member of Parliament".

Mr Brown's final act as Chancellor was to appoint his predecessor Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern - a device allowing an MP to resign their seat.

Mr Blair had represented Sedgefield since 1983 and at the 2005 General Election increased his majority to 18,457.

The Ealing Southall seat is likely to prove a stiffer test, with the Liberal Democrats posing the biggest threat to Labour's 11,400 margin from 2005.

Mr Khabra - who was Britain's oldest MP - held the seat from 1992.