Labour 21 points adrift in new poll

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His first anniversary on Friday was marked by a disastrous fifth place in the Henley by-election which led one party figure to say it should "seriously consider" ditching him.

And former chief fundraiser Lord Levy's verdict was followed by a ComRes poll for the Independent which put the Conservatives on 46% - enough for a 212-seat Commons majority.

David Cameron's Opposition rose two points while Labour, which came behind the Green Party and the BNP in Henley and lost its deposit, slumped five to 25%.

The seat, vacated by London mayor Boris Johnson, was held by the Conservatives and David Cameron said the emphatic win showed his party was a credible alternative government.

Mr Brown, on a visit to Manchester to launch his new public services reform programme, attempted to play down the defeat saying: "By-elections come and by-elections go."

"Of course we have to listen to what people say," he added.

"But my main job is to improve our public services, to get the economy moving forward, to make sure that in the health service and education people have the best services that they want and I am going to continue to do that."

Mr Cameron said the by-election was "disastrous" for Labour and he said he was heartened that, for the first by-election in a long time, the Tory candidate also picked up votes from the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Howell took the seat with 19,796 votes to the Lib Dem candidate Stephen Kearney's 9,680. Labour's Richard McKenzie could only poll 1,066 votes, behind the Green Party's Mark Stevenson on 1,321 and the BNP's Timothy Rait on 1,243.