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Poll cuts Tory lead... but before Kelly quit
Joe Murphy, Political Editor25 Sep 2008
A second opinion poll in a week shows Gordon Brown has managed to cut David Cameron's lead.
Labour jumped seven points to 31 per cent after the Prime Minister's conference speech, according to a YouGov survey in the Sun.
However, the instant poll was taken when Mr Brown was still on a high from his speech but before the chaotic aftermath when Ruth Kelly's resignation was leaked.
The Conservatives slipped three to 41 per cent, giving a reduced Tory lead of 10 points.
A weekend poll gave the Tories a 12-point lead, down from previous runaway leads of more than 20 points. But the key test will be after all three parties have held their annual gatherings.
Half of Labour's gains came from Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats, down three to 16 per cent.
Four in 10 voters wanted Mr Brown to stay on as Prime Minister but six in 10 believe he does not understand what ordinary people are going through in the current economic crunch.
Reader views (8)
Fresh drawing comparisons between Winston Churchill and Gordon Clown. Yeah. Right. Not even the NL spin machine could manufacture that illusion.
I can’t believe that people still want this government in place. This country was in a dreadful mess before the global financial crisis. Our ability to earn a living was all we had left. Now that our ability to pay the ever increasing stealth taxes and prices is under threat the dire state of this country is clear for everyone to see. This government are responsible for the state we are in, and they are definitely not the ones to get us out of it. We are long overdue for a change. Time to give the poison chalice to someone else, and the sooner the better.
- Notanother2years, Notsurewhichcountry, 26/09/2008 09:47
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Who votes Labour? All of the people and companies (& there are a lot of them) who have very comfortable incomes from this govt and don't give a damn about the UK, society and their fellow citizens. Labour & its followers - truly the nasty party.
- Kr, Cap Ferrat France, 25/09/2008 16:46
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Fresh why dont you mention Brown's share of the responsibility for all this. He set up the banking supervision arrangements which allowed the Northern Rock to happen, and he is the architect of Tax and Spend which means we now have no money in the kitty.
The sooner he is forced to resign the better.
- Johno, London, 25/09/2008 15:22
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How stupid are the 31% who actually want more of this deceit, mismanagement and lies which are leading to the destruction of our country?
Who is voting for them? Would someone put up a cogent case as to why this government should be re-elected? Please do not use the stupid argument about "look at the alternatives", the fact is the alternatives are all better than Labour, so that is a non-argument.
- Richard K, Nottingham, 25/09/2008 14:12
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This latest poll is staggering. Who do the YouGov people actually talk to? It must have been all of Rebecca Wade's mates. I truly worry about humanity if people are so easily fooled by bottler Brown's insipid and self serving speech. Unlike Gordy, I am totally speechless......
- Nigel, Enfield, Middx, 25/09/2008 14:05
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The WORLD is in a financial quagmire, and it might be that the country may be realising that this modest, unattractive, one-eyed man is just the kind of politician that will get us through these troubled times, and not a glitzy, novice, Eton toff from Notting-Hill without an original policy thought between his ears, but a nice line in self publicity.
Now, maybe we'll toss Brown aside when the going gets better (rather like Churchill was turfed-out after the war), but in the meantime I'd rather Brown's hard work, experience and knowledge than plastic Dave's flim-flam.
Let's not forget that Brown has a stake in this as the Chancellor for almost all of the Labour party's tenure- the last thing we can afford is a period of "bedding-in", and then loads of "it's not our fault- we've inherited this from the previous lot"- see the lack of any meaningful progress in London so far for an example of where transition is hampered by blame and the obsession with discrediting predecessors via pointless witch-hunts.
Let's get serious, get through this, take the opportunity to structure financial markets in a way that stops this happening again, and then take stock of what kind of politician and party we need to take us forward.
- Fresh, London, UK., 25/09/2008 13:02
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This poll shows just how stupid the public in this country can be.
- Fly, London, UK., 25/09/2008 11:58
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What changed in the hour between the start and finish of Gordo's speech? Rash promises to give 2-year olds somewhere to play and free cancer drugs, which should have been free in the first place. Not exactly going to drag us out of the financial quagmire that he and his cronies have dumped us in.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 25/09/2008 11:40
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