Last night we covered the fact that the Telegraph/ YouGov poll gave the Tories an 11% lead. Within the poll there's lots of interesting details:
- 23% are satisfied with Gordon Brown and 59% dissatisfied.
- The Conservatives have a 1% lead on economic competence - 33% to 32%; Labour had a 49% to 27% advantage at the last election.
- 11% think Alistair Darling is doing a good job; 53% think he's doing a bad job.
- 52% agree that the Government is neither competent nor efficient.
- 60% agree that Labour appears sleazy; only 31% say the same of David Cameron's Conservatives.
The table on the right indicates the extent to which the loss of the HMRC data on 25 million peoples' personal information leads public perceptions of Labour as incompetent.
You can access all of the numbers from within this page on Telegraph.co.uk.
3.15pm: A Populus poll confirms Labour's weakening position. 53% of voters agreed that "the Labour Government now appears to be more sleazy than the previous Conservative
Government". 40% disagreed. 60% agreed that they had less trust in Gordon Brown than when he became Prime Minister in June. 36% disagreed.
60% disagreed with the proposition that despite recent events Mr
Brown was leading a competent government. By 47% to 40% people still thought that Gordon Brown would make a better Prime Minister than David Cameron.
Ouch. Those figures give a good indication of the overall perception of our government held by the public - poor/awful is a good summary of how we are all feeling right now.
Posted by: Letters From A Tory | November 30, 2007 at 09:52
Tempting to start whistling "Oh what a beautiful morning" but we must not be complacent. We must fight in our marginal seats as if we were 10% behind.
Posted by: activist | November 30, 2007 at 10:53
I wonder what Frank Field and Kate Hoey make of all this? Not forgetting Quentin Davies too - the first rat in history ever to have joined a sinking ship?
Posted by: David Cooper | November 30, 2007 at 12:03
These numbers are about what I would expect after several weeks of relentless media narrative that the government is incompetent.But please don't be complacent people, our polling figures in September were horrible so things can change pretty quickly.
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | November 30, 2007 at 12:09
Labour have been very fortunate with the economy in that previous governments have inherited a much more difficult base to work from. Nontheless Labour have still managed to increase unemployment and run up astronomical levels of debt. It will be interesting to see how Labour slice the cake over interest rates and how much independence the BOE really has if it cuts rates and inflation takes off. Remember Gordon Brown gave the chancellor emergency powers to override any BOE decision on rates if it is in the national(that is political!) interest in his may 1997 announcement on independence.
Posted by: Tony Makara | November 30, 2007 at 12:11
Who remembers the slogan "Tough on crime - tough on the causes of crime".
This is becoming a bad joke, we have social breakdown, a welfare trap, rampant gun crime (despite a handgun ban), prisoners being released early because jails are full to bursting point, illegals working in security jobs, courts being pressured not to jail repeat offenders who then commit murder, a Government subject to two police inquiry's for illegal fund raising, failure to deport foreign criminals after release, a home office which is described as 'non fit for purpose' by the minister in charge, police processing kids for petty misdemeanors and being told to 'ignore cases that will lead to custodial sentences'.
Look this is an open goal - we must go on the offensive. Not to do so gives the impression we wouldn't do any better.... and btw, we also need to respond at some point to Browns claims regarding the ERM and interest rates 0.1% away now from that he inherited, and it was falling without his help remember.
Posted by: OH | November 30, 2007 at 12:13
OH, couldn't agree more. It would be so tempting to use one of John Major's more memorable soundbites from PMQs when he managed to rattle Tony Blair with a comment about looking to be "tough on hypocrisy, tough on the causes of hypocrisy", especially given that the argument at the time was all about Harriet Harman sending her son to a selective school.
Posted by: David Cooper | November 30, 2007 at 12:25
John Major must be happy - Gordon Brown is now getting worse personal ratings than he did towards the end of the last government.
Posted by: Votedave | November 30, 2007 at 13:27
These findings represent the narrow issues that have hit the fan over the last few weeks and heightened the awareness of respondents.
What should not be forgotten is that NuLab commenced their reign in very much a similar fashion to today's events. Mandelson's mortgage application and the little sweetener, £380,000 i believe, from Robinson.
One wonders where all the money came from for 1997's campaign and all the pre-election activity. Plus ca change i suspect.
We should not rest on this poll, but rather use it as a base to go forward, exposing the mendacity of NuLab, and ensuring that the Party's position is squeaky clean.
Recent NuLab interviewees constantly refer to Ashcroft and the marginal seat funding policy, which clearly hurts, but, stay well away from their own imbroglio's, attempting to link the two.
Also, the party needs to make clear its committment to no state funding of political parties other than the existing arrangements.
Posted by: George Hinton | November 30, 2007 at 14:23
What I want is chapter and verse of the State (=our) money given to the Unions "to upgrade their IT systems" followed shortly by almost matching donations from the same unions to the Labour party.
This equals 'laundering' of millions of our money to the Labour party via willing stooges.
Anyone got the details please - for PC Plod or failing him for The Sun?
Posted by: Christina Speight | November 30, 2007 at 15:28
If any of you would like to support the armed forces, there's a new petition on the PM's site:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/supportforces/
once it gets 200 signatures the PM's office has to issue a response.
Please sign up
thanks
Posted by: Martin | November 30, 2007 at 15:39
You can copy and paste the link into your browser:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/supportforces/
Posted by: martin | November 30, 2007 at 15:40
Christina Speight - I reported this to Scotland Yard last year. They investigated and informed me that it was legal. I agree with you - it is quite disgraceful to use taxpayers money for this purpose !
Posted by: Derek Green | November 30, 2007 at 16:09
According to Martin Baxter's prediction machine on these polling figures we take Eastleigh, Sheffield Hallam and wait for it...even Norfolk North.
Posted by: Johnny Smythe | November 30, 2007 at 16:13
No media narrative in the world could do quite as much damage as Labour has recently sustained without the existence of genuine scandals and wrong doing. True, Brown's cardinal sin in the media's eyes was to deny it the longed for general election. At a quite visceral level, the journos were looking forward to what they believed would be the ignominious crushing of Cameron. Partly, this was a matter of the most primitive yearning to give the poor, dying bull its "coup de grace". In these perilous circumstances, whipped up by his own supporters, Brown faltered; the matador flinched from the arena. "There is a tide in the affairs of men..."
Having said that, Brown might have plodded stolidly on had the Northern Rock not landed on his head; had the personal details of twenty-five million people not been lost as a result of his keg-handed turf wars; had Labour politicians been more scrupulous as to from whom they accepted funds...
Finally, the many, many Blairite chickens are flapping home to roost in embarrassing flocks.
No, it's not the media which is doing for Brown. It is Labour's dismal record.
Posted by: Simon Denis | November 30, 2007 at 16:16
Looks like Brown REALLY is the 21st Century Jim Callaghan. Had Callaghan gone to the country in Oct 1978 he would probably have won, and the world would have been a different place. Had Brown gone last month, he would probably have won (albeit with a reduced majority) but like Callaghan he 'bottled it'. Let us hope that again, like in 1979, the world will soon be a very different place!!! Cameron must be thrilled that he lost nerve and didn't call the GE.
Posted by: Jon White | November 30, 2007 at 16:20
Maybe Gordon Brown is wishing that he had called the General Election back then; at least he would have stood a chance of surviving. Surely there will be other unsavouries to hit the fan.
Posted by: Teck | November 30, 2007 at 16:24
As has been said, we must not be complacent but we must just keep hammering away about the government's incompetence. There are so many issues at the moment that important things like the arrest warrants are not even getting a look in.
What worries me is the state of the administration that we will inherit when we take over and I think it would unnerve Incapability Brown and his retreads and ciphers if we start openly discussing how to rectify the mess we will inherit from Blair/Brown as if the latter were not even there. To be mocked or ignored will eventually make him lose his temper in public.
When Brown starts on one of his tirades about what he did as Chancellor and the wonderful economic state Britain has enjoyed, cannot our side be primed with the correct facts and figures to point out just how much he has destroyed Ken Clarke's excellent legacy? What was it: a £35bn balance of payments' surplus turned into a similar sized deficit?
Posted by: David Belchamber | November 30, 2007 at 18:41
Derek Green at 1609. for once I understand the police's situation. Both the state subvention and the unions and the unions' similar, but not precisely the same amount, donations to the Labour Party WERE documented but any link is unproveable in law.
The media would be interested while they're in the mood.
So though I know the facts I've lost my source references and would be eternally obliged for any help with the story!
Posted by: Christina Speight | November 30, 2007 at 19:53
"What worries me is the state of the administration that we will inherit when we take over"
David Belchamber, it will probably be a similar situation to that faced by president Reagan when he had to clean up the mess left by Carter. Lots of wasteful gimmicky programmes will have to be closed down and people will scream "Tories axe public sector jobs!" The economy will probably have to get worse before it gets better, after the recession that is coming!
Posted by: Tony Makara | November 30, 2007 at 21:03
I work in our local Conservative office and received a phone call from a member of the public who informed me he had attended a meeting our local Labour MP had been invited to. Mr A asked if he gave donation to his MPs office should the MPs office supply him with a receipt? I replied in the affirmative.
Mr A then informed me that he has donated 1p to his MPs office along with a request for a receipt, to be sent by post.
Mr A suggested public members could do this in every constituency with a Labour/Lib Dem MP and virtually bankrupt them!
Just a thought!
Vicki
Posted by: Vicki | December 01, 2007 at 00:26
Not nice Vicki.
Not the kind of behaviour good Tories do.
Posted by: Joe James Broughton | December 01, 2007 at 01:31
But bad Tories, with long memories, will love Vicki's idea.
Posted by: George Hinton | December 01, 2007 at 11:54
Will Labour change leader before the next election?
I seriously doubt it.
Who would want to take over the poison chalice right now? Better for potential rivals to let Brown lose the next election, then there can be a clearing of the decks and and a change of leader, and 4-5 years to rebuild the Labour Party.
Posted by: James | December 01, 2007 at 14:00
Of course they are all incompetent, Matthew Parris illustrated that perfectly well yesterday. Today they can't even decide exactly who should go to the fair with David Abrahams!
Posted by: Curly | December 02, 2007 at 11:01