October 31, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s main opposition party is now first in the country’s political scene, according to a poll by YouGov published in the Daily Telegraph. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, up three points since early October.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s main opposition party is now first in the country’s political scene, according to a poll by YouGov published in the Daily Telegraph. 41 per cent of respondents would vote for the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, up three points since early October.

The governing Labour party is second with 38 per cent—down three points since early October—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 11 per cent.

In June, 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. On Oct. 3, during the party’s annual conference, Cameron talked about his work in reforming the party and bringing it to the centre of the political spectrum. He also challenged Brown to call an early election. On Oct. 6, the prime minister announced he would not hold an early ballot.

In March 2006, the Liberal Democrats chose foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell as their new leader. On Oct. 15, Campbell tendered his resignation. A leadership ballot of party members will take place in November, and the new Lib-Dem leader will be announced on Dec. 17. The preliminary list of Campbell’s possible successors includes environment spokesman Chris Huhne and current parliamentarian Nick Clegg.

On Oct. 30, a left-wing Labour pressure group including peers, academics and senior union general secretaries, urged Brown to break ties with the Blair era and bring the party back into a path of "progressive consensus". The statement released by the Compass group read: "Brown has uneasily walked between the two poles of continuity and change in his relation to the past 10 years. (...) We believe that the new government should now come down decisively on the side of the latter, so that the electorate can connect the otherwise disparate and apparently random decisions emanating from Westminster."

Polling Data

If there were a general election tomorrow, which party would you vote for?

	Oct. 24	Oct. 6	Oct. 4
Conservative	41%	38%	36%
Labour	38%	41%	40%
Liberal Democrats	11%	11%	13%
Other	10%	10%	11%

Source: YouGov / Daily Telegraph
Methodology: Online interviews with 2,105 British adults, conducted from Oct. 22 to Oct. 24, 2007. No margin of error was provided.