The Hindu : International : Labour swing despite Blair image

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 11, 2005

International

International

Labour swing despite Blair image

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, APRIL 10. After a week in which the Labour Party appeared to be headed for some nasty surprises in next month's general election it has bounced back with three separate opinion polls on Sunday showing that it had significantly regained the lead over the Conservatives, the main Opposition party.

But pollsters warned that with three more weeks of campaigning still ahead, the trend could swing again. For Labour, the biggest problem remained the Prime Minister, Tony Blair's credibility with a vast majority of voters saying that they had lost trust in him after he "misled'' the country over Iraq.

The widespread anti-Blair mood has prompted many Labour candidates not to use the Prime Minister's photograph in their election material. In a sign of how much of an electoral "liability'' he is seen to have become, Mr. Blair's picture does not even appear on the cover of the party's election manifesto to be published shortly.

Gordon Brown back

In the Commons last week, only a few Labour MPs raised their hands, when the Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard, taunted Mr. Blair by asking them how many of them planned to use their leader's photograph in their campaign. Faced with falling personal ratings, Mr. Blair has been forced to bring Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his chief political rival in the party, back into the election campaign to shore up Labour's prospects.

According to the findings of a focus group commissioned by The Observer newspaper while Mr. Blair has suffered from "fading trust'' Mr. Brown is regarded as a "safe pair of hands — reliable, straightforward and the real power behind the throne''. The revival of Labour fortunes is attributed to the entry of Mr. Brown into the campaign. In an interview, Mr. Blair dismissed the talk of differences between him and Mr. Brown saying that despite occasional disagreements they shared a "common belief''.

Buoyed by the pro-Labour swing, Mr. Blair on Sunday vowed to lead the party into a third historic election victory, while addressing supporters in his own parliamentary constituency, Sedgefield.

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