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Conservatives Gain, Labour Drops in Britain
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Support for the opposition Conservative party has increased in Britain, according to a poll by Ipsos MORI published in The Observer. 43 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, up three points since mid-November.
The governing Labour party remains second with 32 per cent—down five points in two weeks—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 15 per cent. 10 per cent of respondents would vote for other parties.
In June 2007, Gordon Brown officially became Labour leader and prime minister, replacing Tony Blair. Brown had worked as chancellor of the exchequer. Blair served as Britain’s prime minister since May 1997, winning majority mandates in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections to the House of Commons.
Since December 2005, David Cameron has been the leader of the Conservative party. In October 2007, Cameron challenged Brown to call a snap election, but the prime minister later announced he would not hold an early ballot.
In December 2007, current parliamentarian Nick Clegg became the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, defeating environment spokesman Chris Huhne in a leadership ballot by just over 500 votes.
On Nov. 25, shadow immigration minister Damian Green was arrested by British police in connection with a Home Office leaks inquiry.
On Nov. 30, Cameron spoke out against Brown and his government, claiming that Green’s arrest was politically motivated, and adding, "We have had 155 days of this government, we’ve had disaster after disaster, a run on a bank, half the country’s details lost in the post, and now this. His excuses, they go from incompetence to complacency and there are questions about his integrity. Aren’t people rightly asking now ‘is this man simply not cut out for the job?’"
The next election to the House of Commons must be held on or before Jun. 3, 2010. Sitting prime ministers can dissolve Parliament and call an early ballot at their discretion.
Polling Data
If there were a general election tomorrow, which party would you vote for?
|
Nov. 28 |
Nov. 16 |
Oct. 2008 |
|
|
Conservative |
43% |
40% |
45% |
|
Labour |
32% |
37% |
30% |
|
Liberal Democrats |
15% |
12% |
14% |
|
Other |
10% |
11% |
11% |
Source: Ipsos MORI / The Observer
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,002 British adults, conducted on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, 2008. No margin of error was provided.