June 11, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party maintains a high level of public support in Britain, according to a poll by ICM Research published in the Daily Telegraph. 42 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election, up one point mid-May.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party maintains a high level of public support in Britain, according to a poll by ICM Research published in the Daily Telegraph. 42 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories in the next general election, up one point mid-May.

The governing Labour party is second with 26 per cent—down one point in two weeks—followed by the Liberal Democrats with 21 per cent. 11 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 Jun. 9, Clegg called for new political financing guidelines, saying, "What’s the point of changing the rules on MPs pay and expenses if multi-millionaires living in tax havens abroad can run a coach and horses through Britain’s weak rules on party funding? We need an urgent overhaul, binding on all political parties, of the rules on party political funding."

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 to be a general election tomorrow, which party do you think you would vote for?

	Jun. 5	May 18	Apr. 24
Conservative	42%	41%	39%
Labour	26%	27%	29%
Liberal Democrat	21%	22%	20%
Other	11%	9%	12%

Source: ICM Research / Daily Telegraph
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,023 British adults, conducted from Jun. 4 to Jun. 5, 2008. No margin of error was provided.