New British PM gives party biggest poll lead in two years

BRITAIN: New Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party has its biggest opinion poll lead for nearly two years, a survey out Sunday showed, raising the prospect of a snap general election.

And Brown is backed by nearly twice as many people to run Britain than the Conservative main opposition leader David Cameron, said a separate poll.

The surveys showed a significant “Brown bounce” rise in popularity since the former finance minister replaced Tony Blair as premier on June 27.

The poll in The Sunday Telegraph newspaper put Labour on 40 percent compared to 33 percent for the Conservatives and 19 percent for the Liberal Democrats.

Labour’s lead is 11 percent among men, one percent among women, and 23 percent among voters aged 18 to 24, the survey said.

Fifty-three percent felt Brown was the best person to lead the country, compared to 27 percent for Cameron in a poll for the News of the World, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper.

London, Sunday, AFP