The man tipped as most likely to succeed Tony Blair as Britain’s next prime minister suffered a blow on Tuesday when a newspaper poll showed voters far preferred the leader of the main opposition party.
Asked which party they would back in a future election, just 29% said the governing Labour Party if — as expected — it was led by Finance Minister Gordon Brown, compared with 42% who opted for the Conservatives under David Cameron.
A further 17% said they would vote for the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, led by Menzies Campbell, according to the Guardian newspaper/ICM survey.
The Conservatives’ 13-point lead was the highest they had scored in any ICM poll since July 1992, just after the party won its last general election, the Guardian reported.
Labour, however, appeared to fare slightly better when voters were simply asked which party they would support, without specific reference to the leader or potential leader.
The poll found 31% chose Labour, 40% said the Conservatives and 19% went for the Liberal Democrats.
Blair is expected to hand over to his old rival Brown in July at the latest after a decade in office, while announcing his exit weeks earlier, perhaps soon after May 3 elections for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh assembly and local councils.
ICM interviewed 1 000 adults from across the country between February 16 and 18. – Reuters