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Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Britons Express Preference for Brown Administration
Credit:UN/DPI Photo
Gordon Brown
(Angus Reid Global Scan) - Many adults in Britain believe the current chancellor of the exchequer should be in charge of the next national government, according to a poll by Communicate Research published in The Independent. 44 per cent of respondents say they would prefer a Labour administration led by Gordon Brown.
A Conservative party government under former chancellor of the exchequer Kenneth Clarke garners the support of 25 per cent of respondents, while 24 per cent are undecided.
In May, British voters renewed the House of Commons. The governing Labour party secured 35.2 per cent of the vote and 356 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 32.2 per cent and 197 legislators, and the Liberal Democrats with 22 per cent and 62 lawmakers.
Following the election, Tory leader Michael Howard vowed to stand down, saying, "I'm 63 years old. At the time of the next election in four or five years' time I'll be 67 or 68 and I believe that's simply too old to lead a party into government." The new Conservative leader will be chosen in October.
On Sept. 8, Clarke criticized the economic record of Blair's government, saying, "Growth and investment have been below what my party achieved before 1997. The U.K. is no longer the exciting place to do business that it was in the 1980s and 1990s."
Last October, British prime minister Tony Blair announced that he would retire at the end of his third term. Brown has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Blair.
Polling Data
If you had to choose between a Labour government led by Gordon Brown and a Conservative government led by Kenneth Clarke, which would you vote for?
Labour government led by Brown | 44% |
Conservative government led by Clarke | 25% |
Refused | 7% |
Don't know | 24% |
Source: Communicate Research / The Independent
Methodology: Interviews to 1,012 British adults, conducted on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, 2005. Margin of error is 3 per cent.