Brown receives poll boost

Gordon Brown's campaign to become Prime Minister has received a boost with an opinion poll showing he is seen as a better and stronger leader than David Cameron.

The Chancellor is still waiting to see if he faces a challenge for the top job with left-winger John McDonnell hoping to get enough to contest him.

But the poll shows Labour is narrowing the gap on the Conservatives with the imminent departure of Tony Blair.

It sees Labour jumping four points since a similar survey in April to 33 per cent, with Mr Cameron's party unchanged on 37 per cent and the Liberal Democrats dropping three points to 17 per cent.

The Conservatives came out better when voters were asked specifically about a contest which matched Mr Brown against Mr Cameron, leading by 42 per cent to 32 per cent.

When asked to rate various leaders on a scale of zero to ten, those taking part in the survey gave Mr Brown the edge over Mr Cameron, giving him an average score of 5, against the Tory leader's 4.95. But both men trailed outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair, who won an average rating of 5.22.

Labour supporters appeared to be more confident than Tories in the man expected to lead them into the next general election, giving Mr Brown an average rating of 6.96 against Mr Cameron's 6.54 rating among Conservative supporters.

Mr Brown was rated "strong" by 34 per cent of those taking part, against 21 per cent for Mr Blair and 19 per cent for Mr Cameron.

In the fight to become deputy leader, the Education Secretary Alan Johnson appears to be the front runner after revealing that he has obtained the backing of 64 fellow Labour MPs. It puts him well above the 44 nominations needed to secure a place on the ballot paper.

Significantly Mr Johnson has the support of outgoing deputy leader John Prescott and Environment Secretary David Miliband.

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