The British government yesterday received a welcome boost in the run-up to the party conference season, with a MORI poll putting public support for Labour at more than 50 per cent. There was disappointing news for the Tory leader, Mr William Hague, as the Conservatives sank to more than 20 per cent behind Labour.
Labour seems to have ridden out the pre-summer jitters over the Prime Minister, Mr Blair's, leaked memos suggesting the party was out of touch with the core beliefs of British voters and was harbouring splits over government policy on the euro.
According to the MORI poll published in the London Times yesterday, support for the party has reached 51 per cent, up two per cent on last month, which is the first time support has risen above 50 per cent since April.
By contrast, Mr Hague has suffered a setback, with public support slipping below 30 per cent for the first time since April. The Conservatives had 29 per cent public support, down four per cent on July and 22 per cent behind Labour.
The findings suggest the Conservatives have failed to win support for their new tough policies on law and order and immigration. It also appears that Mr Hague's recent interview with GQ men's magazine, in which he described drinking 14 pints of beer a day as a teenager, has had little impact on voters.
There was more disappointment for Mr Hague with the poll finding that his personal satisfaction rating, measured by subtracting the number dissatisfied from those satisfied, had gone down five points since July from minus 20 to minus 25. General satisfaction with the government in the wake of the successful Comprehensive Spending Review by the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, improved its public rating from minus 30 in July to minus 21 in August.
The MORI economic index, measuring those who thought the economy would improve over the next year minus those who thought it would get worse, stood at minus seven which was up three points on July.