British prime minister Gordon Brown suffered a new blow today with a poll showing the Conservatives 28 points ahead of the Labour Party and on track to seize more than half of the vote.
The Ipsos MORI poll showed how much Britain's deepening economic woes are hurting Mr Brown, and could fuel a Labour revolt against his 15-month-old premiership two days before party members gather in Manchester for their annual conference.
The poll found 52 per cent of those who said they would definitely vote at the next election backed the Conservatives.
That was up from 48 per cent last month and would give the Conservatives an overwhelming majority in parliament if repeated at the next general election, due by mid-2010.
Labour was unchanged at 24 per cent while the Liberal Democrats dipped from 16 per cent to 12.
Julia Clark, head of political research at Ipsos MORI, said it was the highest Conservative score since the monthly tracker poll began in 1979. She said it was very unlikely Mr Brown could recover from such a big deficit before the next election.
"The public are so fed up with Labour right now, they are sick with Gordon Brown," she said.
With the credit crunch taking a deepening toll on the economy, Labour members are increasingly questioning whether Brown is the right man to lead them. Mr Brown faced down a revolt this week by Labour legislators demanding a leadership contest.
Reuters