Fresh pressure was put on Sir Menzies Campbell tonight as a new poll showed just 41% of Liberal Democrat supporters believed he was doing a good job as party leader. The YouGov survey for the Daily Telegraph also saw his party's score drop three points to 15% while the Tories gained two to 39% and Labour went up one to 33%. Sir Menzies was forced to shrug off reports of unrest among party members last week in the wake of a poll showing most wanted someone else to fight the next general election. He had already helped fuel speculation by declaring repeatedly that he would not quit after conceding disappointing election results in Scotland, Wales and England were a "mixed bag".
The new poll shows a third do not believe he is doing a good job and more than a quarter (26%) are undecided, well into Sir Menzies's second year in charge after succeeding the deposed Charles Kennedy. And when it comes to leading the country, just 6% of all voters think he would be the best option. His spokeswoman told the newspaper: "Polls go up and down; what this sort of thing shows is that people do not yet know Ming."The spokeswoman said: "Last year was about stabilising things and making sure everything got into gear. "Now it's about us making sure he gets out there as much as possible so people get to know him." She said Sir Menzies would be making major policy announcements in the near future on poverty and inequality and pointed out that preparations for a possible snap general election - including the writing of a manifesto - were already well under way. The poll contained some good news though for the man who is set to be the next Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who has narrowed the gap between his rating and Tory leader David Cameron's from 10 points in April to just three (41% to 38%).
Friday, May 25, 2007
Poll Boost for Cameron But Ming Is In Trouble
This has just appeared on the Press Association Newswire...
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20 comments:
Re: the apparent improvement in Brown's rating. Do we British have a collective death wish?
Hhahahahahaha.
One in the eye for the 'grammar schools or bust' crowd.
Over half the populace probably do not even know Blair is going soon, so I would not put much stock in the polls at this time.
Remind me who said Norman Lamb was in trouble at the last General Election?
that would be a good point, apart from the fact that it's PA saying it rather than me.
Menzies is leading (or not leading) the party to disaster. We are going to lose seats to the Tory party and Labour as we get squeezed because he has not established any clear vision of the party as an alternative.
We should be making hay as Cameron has no policies and Brown's record is awful.
Instead we look listless and unenergetic. Our response to establish ourselves as a party in government in opposition to the incumbent Labour party in Wales and Scotland has been squandered because he gave no lead.
It's the moment of truth and the party has to act now to replace otherwise it will be more of the same dismal results.
This improvement in the Brown rating is rather contradicted isn`t it by the recent disappointing ICM Poll.
I wonder if we will actually see the end of the Liberal Party . They should be doing well now in that they always do when it doesn`t matter I think its because it is hard to be a sort of federation of various local gripes and retain any idenity. Instant media has nmade the whole deception impossible
How is it a poll boost losing 7% of your "lead" over your prime ministerial opponent? That bit of editorialising was you not PA wasn't it? And are PA now drifting into comment and opinion for facts and journalism?
Its a better Poll than the ICM one Chris . In that sense it is bad news for you and your chirruping parasitic statist cuckoos . Did you know 60% of employment in Newcastle is in the direct state sector . Terrifying. I noticed today your stumbling attempt at fisking which you bodged inelegantly demonstrating only eery preening autism . Decidedly odd as I daresay you have often been told .Forced Marriages happen outside the UK with the connivance of communities living inside the UK. They are part of the culture of those communities and they are not 250 ( we know of ) coincidences. A disinclination to face this is exactly the sort of swivel eyed politically correct absurdity that has made the view of apologists so sad and yet funny. Without seeing the problem there will not be an answer which is why self congratulatory cultural masochism of this sort is so painful to behold.
The extent of racism in various racial groups is considered in the Nick Coen Book what’s left with much statistical evidence if you want to look it up. I `m not talking about anti Semitism which is of course present on Islam but the extent of “ affront” a family member would cause by marrying a black man or woman. Not surprisingly white people are by far the least concerned and working-class white people even less so.. As for homophobia the evidence of it is plastered all over every bus stop in our Borough. Gay friends tell me it is vile and were it in English there would be great concern. Another coincidence ? Lastly my comment that the Labour Party voter is loathed by its leaders is a view shared by several writers in the New Statesman recently when a vintage article by Eric Hobsbawm was reprinted .He worried about Intellectuals (soi disant ) and their separation from workers. Liberal fellow travellers is the way I would put it now ( The left being intellectually dead ) The second Party in recent Poll of Labour voters was , for 35% the BNP. Denis Macshane was bragging in the Telegraph that “Margaret Hodge and Liam Byrne are talking a new language on social housing and immigration. Talking “ A language that makes sense to the millions still living on Council estates”. .Now I know exactly what Enver Hodge is up to , why don`t you ?
Causabonish would be a kind way to put it which I daresay means nothing whatsoever to you.
As lovely Boris Johnson was saying it is the sheer barbarity of the left that is one of its most unpleasant attributes
As a Tory I am delighted with Ming Campbell's gormless leadership of the LibDems and hope that he continues in the role for a very long time indeed.
Brown does nothing whatsoever and his popularity increases? Not so, Cameron is losing support from natural Tories who see no relationship between his ideas and theirs.
The Conservatives should not "do a Blair" and seek power at all costs. Sticking to basic principles would have been enough as Brown will be different to but worse than Blair.
Victor
It is not just Ming who fears the age question. Look at Borrowman their national campaign person (writes the Focus leaflets). On this site we have a current picture in the video and yet the mast head has a photo that is at least 5 yrs ago.
http://www.borrowman.org.uk/pages/Campaigner.html
Borrowman is the slimey twerp who called you "an objectionable tory".
He claims he is am emvironmentalist yet is responsible for all the Focus leaflets that are thrown away across the UK.
The Lib Dems problem is that Cameron has been fighting on their ground rather than on Tory ground which reduces the competition between them to one of personalities in which Ming is fighting unarmed. The Tories problem is that if Ming is replaced by somebody who appears competent (Huhne) the Tories will have difficulty beating the LDs on LD policy & be unable to retreat.
The improvement in Brown's rate, while hardly unexpected, could leave cameron open to an attackm on the "whose got the most competent leader" debate where the Tories have usually expected to score.
Iain, how strange that you overlooked the 'Who would make the best PM' question.
For the previous two months Cameron has had a 5 point lead over Brown. This month that lead has been reversed and now Brown has a 3 point lead over Cameron.
Isn't all the Ming stuff a diversion from the fact that the shine is coming off Cameron, the king of smarm, and the public are looking afresh at the over-maligned Brown.
Blame PA, not me! I just copied their text, as you can see.
The utter lack of any far reaching strategy by the Liberals and Ming's clumsy attempts at populism must have all the other parties salivating over the meaty bits of their vote.
In Scotland and Wales (and even Cornwall) they built up votes on playing to local national feeling. Their rejection of going into government in Scotland and Wales with Nationalists is already causing a backlash from those supporters. To go from the second party of Scotland in 2005 to the fourth in 2007 is a major indictment of Ming's appalling leadership.
Their anti-Labour vote is ripe for the taking by the Conservatives as Ming cosies up to Brown and attacks the Conservatives with more vigour. A Liberal vote will be portrayed as a Labour vote.
With that their anti-Tory vote will just flow away to Labour as they get squeezed by making themselves irrelevant. Only Labour can beat the Tories will have credibility.
The high point reached by Kennedy will have been squanderd by Ming's inability to position the party properly.
Check out the DM poll.
And remind us iain, who is there at PA who has half a brain cell on matters political?
Well, as an avid Minger supporter this is great news for the Conservatives. I think the LibbyDems on the whole have done themselves no favours over the recent/current coalition fiasco's in Scotland and Wales. The Party does not know it's ar*e from it's elbow. They are making themselves to look as scurrilous as we know them to be. here's to another LibbyDem sex-scandal! Cheers chaps (or ladies)!
Anon 1.43 About the same number as CCHQ based on the last week.
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