Brown effect propels Labour to election-winning lead
Gordon Brown's appointment as the new Prime Minister has caused Labour to jump seven points in the polls, putting them a clear four points above the conservatives and meaning, were an election to take place tomorrow, that Labour would - on these figures - actually increase their majority. Which makes Cameron's calls for an immediate general election somewhat suicidal.
The Tories are making a great deal out of the fact that the general public have not elected Brown, as if Britain is suddenly America, where one elects a President as opposed to a party. They are also ignoring the fact that there is precedent to a Prime Minister being changed without the government going to the polls, the most recent example of this being John Major's succeeding of Margaret Thatcher without Major seeking any approval from the British public.
The most impressive thing about Brown's premiership has been the fact that he has hit the ground running. He has already transformed the front bench team with some appointments that are bound to infuriate Washington.The Conservatives had been bracing themselves for a Brown bounce, and privately believe the new prime minister is going to dominate the agenda for at least a fortnight. Mr Cameron's staff were relieved the Tory vote remained solid, but will be worried that leads on a raft of policy issues, including health, have dissipated. The Tories are holding back their policy review reports for some weeks and Mr Cameron will soon reshuffle his shadow cabinet.
Research for the poll began on Wednesday after Mr Brown became prime minister and was completed on Thursday night, after the new Cabinet was appointed.
Mr Brown continued his mould-breaking ministerial appointments, including a former head of the Royal Navy, Sir Alan West, who becomes minister for security at the Home Office. Lord Stevens will become his senior advisor on international security. Sir Digby Jones, the former CBI director general, has been appointed an industry minister and will take the Labour whip in the Lords.
This is clearly going to be a very different administration from the one that Blair ran.
And all the indications are that the public, so far, very much likes what it sees. Cameron was chosen to face Blair and, in many ways, has that same all-things-to-all-men appeal that Blair had.
Brown comes across as a welcome change to such frippery. He's a serious man and almost the opposite of what we are told will work in the televisual age. He reminds me of a politician from another time, as there is something austere and strict about his demeanour. This is not a man who wants to be our chum.
He strikes me as the perfect antidote to Blair's image as the king of spin. Cameron, however, is simply the Tory version of Blair.
If the opinion polls are any indication then perhaps the British public's love of spin is at an end, and David Cameron may very well find that he is the wrong man to unseat the very serious Mr. Brown.
Brown's lack of warmth may, ironically, prove to be Cameron's undoing; leaving the latter looking unserious and too Blair-like for the British public's taste. Blair overstayed his welcome with the British public, and recent polls indicate that they may very well decide that they don't want to replace him with the Tory equivalent.
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