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Voters prefer Thatcher and Blair to Brown, poll finds

Voters asked which politician 'at the peak of their powers' they would choose to be prime minister

Gordon Brown faced embarrassment today when a new poll revealed that voters would rather have former prime ministers Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher or ex-MP Tony Benn as the country's leader.

The YouGov poll asked voters who they would choose from a list of politicians "at the peak of their powers" to be prime minister. Only 5% chose Brown, while Benn earned 13% and Blair came second with 20%.

Lady Thatcher, the former Tory prime minister, came top of the list with 27%.

The poll, conducted for the Daily Telegraph, found that Brown was unpopular even among Labour voters. Blair was top of the Labour voters' list with 42%, while Brown languished on 10%. Benn scored 17% of the party's voters.

Benn, the leftwing former cabinet minister, was the country's longest-serving Labour MP before retiring from parliament in 2001. He has been a severe critic of New Labour.

In July last year, he made an impassioned plea to the Labour leader to hold a referendum on the EU treaty, something that Brown said would never happen. Benn called the situation "absolutely undemocratic".

Today's poll also revealed that Blair beat Clement Attlee, Labour prime minister from 1945 to 1951, in the contest to decide Britain's greatest post-war prime minister. He came third, while Thatcher was again in first place, with Winston Churchill second.

Brown's popularity has been falling in recent polls, with the past three weeks some of his worst.

A poll yesterday placed Labour on 32%, with the Tories on 43%.


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  • Democracyisforall Democracyisforall

    7 Apr 2008, 2:47PM

    OK so Brown is not as popular at the moment. And I accept he is very different from Blair. I regard Blair as the greatest PM Britain ever saw.

    But these poll always forget reality, few if any thought John Major was a good PM and even fewer thought William Hague or Ian Duncan Smith could even be in contention to be a Primeminister and lets not forget another Tory Michale Howard.

    And of late this game of pulling cotton wool over the eyes of the public continues. David Cameron has not done anything to merit hikes in his poll rating. He is still the leader of the nasty party, he and they have not changed at all.

    They still want the NHS to be privatised so you will have to pay, they still see no need for the minimum wage and would stop increasing it, which would make it useless. And they certainly do not care for free bus passes, TV Licences and winter fuel payments...all that would soon be scrapped.

    Unless you make a certain amount the real Tory agenda has nothing for you...Mr Cameron just to prove he still leads the nasty party has pledged to bring Fox Hunting back in full? Are people really convinced by a guy who would make Del Boy look a saint?

    His real Tory policies, the ones he's scared of ever saying are being kept hidden from the public and you will only find out what they are when he is in office.

    To much media spinning is going on trying to make out Brown is weak. He's not. But in today's 24/7 news the public have forgotten a simple point, just because somebody critisises the PM it dose not make it true.

    Its irrelevant what people think of Mr Brown in terms of personality, what counts is the policies and actions not the whines of the press. They are board with having Labour in office and will do anything to make Cameron look like he walks on water instead of sand.

    The public of late moan and have a go at the government for things they cant control. If they think Cameron or god forbid Boris in London could or would do better then they are walking around with blinkers on.

    Brown may not be the most dynamic and he is no Blair, but what he is solid, dependable and cares for the interest of this country and for all its people.

    He's not into endless announcements and soundbites with no intention to do anything being stated. That is Mr Cameron's way not Browns.

    Its Cameron who is a weak leader, not Brown....

    And lets not forget...Cameron was in minus rating in the polls for a lot longer then Brown. Cameron has not changed. So why think he has.

  • regor1 regor1

    7 Apr 2008, 11:14PM

    I was very amused by the previous Blogger who appears to think that Brown has been totally misrepresented by the press and in fact thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread. I should be interested to know how he can explain the critical comments made by Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and even Brown's own biographer, all who knew what a disaster Brown would be as a Prime Minister. Brown was known as 'blinker' because he could never decide when a difficult decision had to be made. Hence his dithering over the non- election came as no surprise.Brown is clearly way out of his depth and is leading Labour to an absolute disaster at the next election.

  • ispy ispy

    8 Apr 2008, 9:22AM

    Cameron will be destroyed in the long term by his lack of policy on the EU.If he becomes PM he will be under pressure from his party to leave the EU.That in turn will spell disaster for the economy.Scotland Wales and Cornwall will prefer to stay in the EU so Cameron and his Old Etonians mates will be governing "Little England" at last with no influence on global decisions.Well he can make the decision to bring back foxhunting i suppose and Boris will have his double decker red buses.No wonder the Brits dont bother to vote.

  • timolin timolin

    8 Apr 2008, 9:40AM

    Gordon Brown's remarkable loss of popularity occurred when he bottled an election that he was virtually certain to win. He did not trust the people, and now the people do not trust him.

    In a single craven move he became an unelected PM, and in that same move became unelectable. His position is unrecoverable. As the shadow of the economic position turns to darkness, Labour's only hope is to dissociate themselves from his premiership.

    The glittering options of the Millibands and Ed Balls await a government basking in the glow of Tony Blair's achievements. The rather difficult PR task is going to be enjoyable to watch.

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