January 28, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s main opposition party remains strong in the country, according to a poll by Ipsos-MORI. 42 per cent of respondents would support the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, unchanged since early December.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Britain’s main opposition party remains strong in the country, according to a poll by Ipsos-MORI. 42 per cent of respondents would support the Conservative party in the next election to the House of Commons, unchanged since early December.

The governing Labour party is second with 32 per cent, followed by the Liberal Democrats with 15 per cent. Support for Labour fell by three points in a month, while backing for the Lib-Dems increased by one point.

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 Jan. 23, Cameron broke international protocol by backing a presidential candidate running in the United States. Cameron expressed his admiration for Republican Arizona senator and Vietnam veteran John McCain, saying, "Every generation has to fight and win the argument for free trade and open markets. Just look at the presidential election in the U.S. On both sides of the political divide, there are candidates advocating protectionist policies. There is one clear exception—and I admire him a great deal for his stance. Senator John McCain did my party the great honour of addressing our annual conference two years ago, and we saw then the courage and conviction that saw him go to Michigan and tell the voters directly that the old jobs weren’t coming back and that protectionism was no answer to today’s economic problems. He didn’t win the primary, but he certainly won a lot of respect."

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

How would you vote if there were a general election tomorrow? Which party are you most inclined to support?

	Jan. 10	Dec. 7	Nov. 27
Conservative	42%	42%	41%
Labour	32%	35%	32%
Liberal Democrats	15%	14%	17%
Other	11%	9%	10%

Source: Ipsos-MORI
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 517 absolutely certain British voters, conducted on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, 2008. No margin of error was provided.