International

Brown honeymoon losing lustre?

LONDON: The prospects of a snap general election in October receded on Monday after a poll showed that Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s “honeymoon” with the voters had started to fade a bit.

According to a Guardian/ICM poll, Labour Party’s ratings have shrunk while Conservatives have improved their position slightly, upsetting Mr. Brown’s reported plans to call an early election.

Labour, which enjoyed a lead of up to 10 points over Conservatives until a few weeks ago, is now ahead only by five points while the latter have picked up two points since the last Guardian/ICM poll a month ago.

The findings came after an unprecedented surge in Labour’s ratings in the wake of the leadership change in June when Mr. Brown replaced Tony Blair under whose watch the party was seen to have gone into terminal decline.

Analysing the new trends, The Guardian warned that an election was fraught with risks for Mr. Brown.

“Gordon Brown could risk the possible loss of his parliamentary majority if he gambled and held an early general election this autumn,” it said. A drop of just two more points during an election campaign could result in Labour Party returning with a majority of only 10.

Until now, the speculation was that Mr. Brown might announce an election at next month’s annual conference of the Labour Party. It was widely expected that elections could be held as early as October.

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