Posted on 04/17/2005 2:05:19 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Labour has widened its lead over the Conservatives to 10 points and is heading for a third successive landslide general election win on May 5 with a majority of more than 150, an ICM opinion poll for The Telegraph reveals today.
The survey shows that Labour has surged ahead in the past week of campaigning, since Gordon Brown returned to the front line and the party made the handling of the economy the centrepiece of its campaign. ICM puts Labour on 40 per cent, up two points from last Sunday, with the Conservatives down four per cent on 30 and the Liberal Democrats up two on 22 per cent.
If repeated on polling day, with a uniform swing across the country, Labour would have a majority of 158, only seven fewer than its 2001 victory. Using the same calculation, three senior shadow cabinet ministers, David Davis, Oliver Letwin and Tim Collins, would lose their seats, all to the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives would win just one seat from Labour, and finish with 155 MPs, 10 fewer than in 2001.
The poll - which shows that the gap between the two main parties is the widest since the capture of Baghdad in the Iraq War two years ago - is a bitter blow for Michael Howard, the Conservative Party leader. Today Mr Howard will attempt to recapture the initiative by unveiling more details of his party's tax-cutting proposals, a programme which totals £4 billion. The latest announcement, worth £1.7 billion, will be tax cuts designed to encourage saving in pensions schemes, an area where Tory strategists believe the Government has "completely failed."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
At least it sold a few papers.
Wait, this can't be happening. The MSM said that he was a friend of Bush, and led British support for the war on Iraq, so he couldn't be reelected!
So are we supposed to be rooting for a Labour Party victory? Strange world we live in... The only possible bad outcome that could come out of this election (from the U.S. point of view), would be a narrow Labour win. In such an event, Blair would probably be dumped by his own party, and replaced by a more radical leftist Labourite.
Interesting. If the polls are to be believed, and that is always a caveat, the British people want tougher law enforcement, a tough prosecution of the WoT, but more socialism domestically.
So much for Iraq being a big issue in this election, though southern Iraq is pretty much quiet these past months.
I am happy to hear it.
I would prefer a conservative normally, BUT I didn't want to see Blair defeated, just because he had the guts to stand up to the terrorists and world opinion and support us in our Iraq war with tagible, significant help.
If he had been defeated now, that would have been a message to all leaders, that supporting the US is bad for their political careers.
Thank God, Blair is winning a decisive victory.
"So are we supposed to be rooting for a Labour Party victory?"
Blair has proven himself to be a loyal ally to American interests. What else should matter if you have an American passport?
The Guardian tried very hard to bring down Blair because of his ties to the US. Last fall, they tried to bring down Pres. Bush with their letter-writing fiasco to Ohio voters. Fortunately, they are leftist morons who never succeed at anything.
In this case, we're Labour through and through.
Well, it's tough. In all other respects we really ought to be rooting for a Conservative victory (which ain't gonna happen).
It should be pointed out that there were other polls out today as well, one with a 6 point Labour lead, another with a 1 point Labour lead. The word being used to describe public opinion is "volatile".
Tony Blair could not have been a more stalwart ally to GW Bush. He is no yes man and that's good because yes men are of little value for internal discussion and debate. Tony Blair's wife serves as a left wing extremist in those same private internal debates and this is exactly what one should have formulating policy -- a look at all sides.
We know the pressures and screaming the resolute GW Bush endured. I happen to have been in Europe frequently the past few years and I know the pressure on Blair was even more intense, and yet there he stands, alongside GW Bush, never suggesting he wants to stand anywhere else.
Labour is not the natural ally of the GOP, and this year that matters not a whit. There has probably never been a foreign leader more deserving of GOP support.
What's the inside story?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Ten years ago this news would have made me "deeply saddened", to quote a former politician from the Dakota's. But I've gained a modicum of respect for Blair over the past four years.
If Blair is ALSO re-elected, it will be just too sweet for words.
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