Cameron has a ten point lead

Des · June 5, 2006

I know it's still his honeymoon period but this is worrying. I'm not sure Labour can rescue the situation just by toppling Blair either - Cameron appears to be a much more popular choice for PM than Brown. Any suggestions as to where I could emigrate if these f*ckers get back into power in 2009/10?

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Cameron helps Tories to 10-point lead

Hélène Mulholland and agencies

Monday June 5, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

David Cameron will celebrate six months as leader of the Conservative party tomorrow with a 10-point lead over Labour.

A Sun survey carried out by Ipsos Mori pollsters shows a large reversal in party fortunes as the Tories surge ahead of Labour.

As the Tories' confidence grows, Mr Cameron is preparing to break new ground by defending public sector workers and saying how much they can teach the private sector.

Mr Cameron's party has jumped four points since April to 41%, while support for Labour has fallen one point to 31%, giving the opposition their biggest lead in the poll since before John Major led the party to victory in the 1992 general election.

Meanwhile, approval ratings for the prime minister, Tony Blair, slumped to an all-time low, with only 26% of those polled expressing satisfaction with his leadership.

The findings were also a blow to his likely successor, Gordon Brown, as the poll showed falling confidence in his running of the economy, with 86% saying they didn't expect the economy to improve in the next year.

The chancellor will seek to shore up his profile with a speech today warning of the dangers of economic protectionism and the threat to the European single market by "economic patriot policies" being pursued by some EU member states.

The poll of 1,984 people carried out between May 25 and 30, also showed the Liberal Democrats had failed to prosper under the fresh leadership of Sir Menzies Campbell.

Nine weeks into his tenure, the Scot has yet to make an impact, with the party slipping three points to 18%.

Commenting on today's poll, the Tory party chairman, Francis Maude, said: "Under David Cameron's leadership people seem more willing to give us a hearing," he said. "One poll - or even a series of polls - isn't enough, but we will draw encouragement from the findings."

During his six-month reign, Mr Cameron has extended the Conservative party's horizons by highlighting green policies and attacking big business over bad practice.

Mr Cameron will showcase his green ambitions today by visiting an Ikea furniture store to mark world environment day.

The Swedish firm is to charge customers for plastic bags in a bid to slash the number handed out at its stores by 20m next year.

Mr Cameron will signal another break with the Tory past by criticising a tendency to portray public sector workers as "lazy", at a summit held tomorrow and organised by the National Consumer Council.

And he will launch a direct attack on Labour - telling ministers they should accept their own failures and not "scapegoat" civil servants.

His support for public sector staff follows claims by the home secretary, John Reid, that parts of his department were not "fit for purpose" and were "dysfunctional".

Unions hit back at the government, claiming ministers were scapegoating their staff for flawed policies.

Mr Cameron will show sympathy for Whitehall staff in his speech tomorrow.

Admitting that he has also been guilty of "bashing bureaucrats" in the past, Mr Cameron will condemn ministers for their recent comments.

"When I hear ministers bashing bureaucrats, or declaring that their departments are not fit for purpose, I wish they'd have the decency to admit that it's their fault not the people who work for them. Instead of using public servants as scapegoats, we should acknowledge their successes."

In language unfamiliar to Conservative party ears, he will also spell out what the private sector can learn from the public sector, rather than the other way round.

In the Conservatives' "legitimate desire" to drive out government waste and improve public sector efficiency, the party had risked giving the impression that public sector workers were burdens on the state rather than dedicated professionals, Mr Cameron will say.

"Anyone working in the public services could easily have heard a pretty negative message form my party - 'there's too many of you, you're lazy and you're inefficient'.

"Public service, the concept of working for the good of the community, is a high ideal. We see it in our doctors and nurses, our police officers and our soldiers.

"But we also see it in many, many areas of our civil service and local government. Yet this is rarely, if ever, acknowledged.

"We want to learn first hand from consumers what they think makes for good service, whether delivered by the private sector, the public sector or indeed the voluntary sector.

"We want to understand what lessons the public sector may have for the private sector instead of the automatic and lazy assumption that it is always the public sector that has to learn from the private sector."

Bailo · June 5, 2006

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