An overwhelming majority of you are negative about the new Labour leadership. 45% thought that Brown would be a change for the worse and 41% didn't think they'd be much change, but wished there was. That is 86% who aren't happy with the change of leadership. Incredibly only 6% of you felt that the government was and still is heading in the right direction, while an optimistic 8% of you thought Brown would be a positive change from Blair (an endorsement of Brown, or damning verdict of Blair?). Is Brown just a cheaper less impressive version of Blair? Time will tell…
Whilst this poll is by no means representative of the electorate at large, I do have the feeling that there is a majority out there who are not happy with the change (or lack of it) for one reason or another. This begs the question, however - why have Labour surged in the polls? There was always going to be a Labour boost associated with the "Brown effect" and polls will take a month or two to settle down. But for a government that has taken a country in to the most unpopular war in its history; for a government that has infringed in civil liberties like no other; from a government associated with sleaze and corruption - why have the Tories made so little ground on Labour since 1997? There was a period of the Cameron honeymoon, but it has never looked like being enough to secure a majority government if there were an election. The popularity of the party is as low as ever in Scotland, Wales and much of the North of England. You also get the feeling it will only take a good old fashioned Europe debate or another grammar school debacle for the party to implode all over again.
bgprior has written an interesting "solution" to the Tory problem based on the idea that the Tory party is represented by too many political strands from the centre ground across to the right. Instead of trying to drag the right of the party to the centre ground, alienating large sections of the party and the electorate in the process, maybe the Tory party would be better off splitting up - an SDP moment. This week’s poll asks what the solution to the Tory party is. Is Cameron right to mimic Blair and head to centre ground and risk a fractured party with no guarantees he can “out Labour” Labour? Start to take up some more traditional Tory ground on taxes, crime and Europe? Or is it time the opposing political strands of the Tory went their separate ways and the electorate could choose between a centre ground Conservative party and a more traditional Conservative party?
Picture - Hat tip: b3ta