Brown doomed as Tories head for 330 majority
GORDON Brown was last night given the starkest warning yet that Labour is plunging towards electoral oblivion after a poll gave the Tories a 28 per cent lead.
An Ipsos MORI survey put the Conservatives on a 52 per cent share of the vote, a rise of four per cent on the previous month.
It is the first time since the Margaret Thatcher era that the Tories have exceeded the crucial 50 per cent mark in an opinion poll. Labour remains stalled on a 24 per cent share, the same as a month ago.
The Tory lead and forecast vote share was the highest ever recorded by Ipsos MORI.
If this were repeated at a general election, it would put David Cameron into Downing Street with a historic majority of more than 330 seats.
Coming just two days before the opening of Labour’s annual conference in Manchester this weekend, the opinion poll was another devastating blow for the Prime Minister.
It is bound to embolden the growing Labour revolt, fuelling demands for Mr Brown to step down before his rock-bottom unpopularity condemns the party to electoral disaster.
Ministers are now braced for more high-profile resignations following the exit of junior minister David Cairns this week and other aides. The outlook was also bleak for the Lib Dems.
The survey before the climax of their annual conference in Bournemouth this week, gave the party a 12 per cent vote share, down four per cent on the previous month.
The last time the Tories gained the backing of more than half of voters in a poll was 1988, a year after Lady Thatcher’s third election win.
Under Tony Blair, Labour approached a 60 per cent forecast vote share in polls while eventually winning 43 per cent in the 1997 General Election.
Three quarters (76 per cent) of voters were dissatisfied with the way the Government was running the country and 69 per cent were unhappy with Mr Brown as Prime Minister.
Some 54 per cent thought the Tories were “ready to form the next Government”, a 19 per cent rise from last month.
Earlier this week, former Labour minister George Howarth claimed Mr Brown was the most unpopular Prime Minister “since Neville Chamberlain after Hitler invaded Norway”. Yesterday, he repeated his call for the PM to quit.
Ipsos MORI questioned 1,017 British adults between September 12 and 14.
