Mandelson says Tories failing to recover early lead

WITH two opinion polls last night still pointing to a hung parliament, Labour’s election supremo Peter Mandelson said the Tories had failed to recover the lead they enjoyed at the start of the campaign.

“The big story of the election is that the Tories blew their lead at the beginning of this race and are still not winning it back,” he said. “David Cameron is desperate to give the impression that he is home and dry and all that’s required is to weigh the Tory vote. But the overwhelming majority of voters are firmly resisting his soft soap campaign.”

ICM for The Guardian put the Conservatives on 33%, with Labour and the Lib Dems level-pegging on 28%, while YouGov for The Sun had the Conservatives on 34%, the Lib Dems on 29%, and Labour on 28%.