UK Conservatives get big poll boost

Britain's Conservative leader Michael Howard has received an opinion poll boost a year after taking over the party.

A Populus poll for The UK's Times newspaper showed a significant recovery in both his personal rating, and that of his party.

The poll, undertaken over the weekend, put Labour on 34% of the vote (down one point), and the Tories on 33% – a 5% rise for Mr Howard’s party since early October.

However, the Tories’ previous rating of 28% was unusually low because that poll was undertaken at the end of the Labour conference week and after the Tories had come fourth in the Hartlepool by-election.

The Liberal Democrats were on 22%, down three points.

Leader ratings are measured on a 10-point scale and in the new poll Mr Howard scored 4.54, up from 4.15 a month ago.

His rating remained behind that of Mr Blair – who scored 4.85, but the Prime Minister’s figure was down sharply from the 5.31 figure of the previous month.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy recorded the best personal score, with a figure of 4.87.

Populus interviewed 1,504 adults by telephone from across the country for the poll.