Is this the agenda for Brown to make trouble for Cameron?

A striking illustration of the challenge facing David Cameron comes from a Populus survey of MPs of all parties in the Times this morning on their views on key social values.

A total of 128 MPs were included and were made up of 70 Labour, 39 Tories, 13 Lib Dems and six others. The sample was weighted to reflect the balance of parties within the House. These are some of the key findings:-

Gay couples – Tory MPs split 46-54% that they should have the same rights as heterosexual couples. By comparison, 83 per cent of the Labour MPs and 92 per cent of Lib Dems agreed.

Racial mix – There was a 52-48% split among the Tories on whether “the diverse mix of races, cultures and religions now found in our society has improved Britain”. All the Lib Dems agreed with this as did 92 per cent of Labour MPs

Ethnic and cultural tolerance – 67% of the Tories and 94% of the Labour participants agreed with the statement “one of the things that would most improve life in Britain today is people being more tolerant of different ethnic groups and cultures”

Private schools – Just 7% of the Tories agreed that “it would be better for the country if everyone who sends their children to private schools chose to send them to state schools instead”. The Labour figure was 85%.

Tolerance – 91% of Labour MPs and 85% of Tories agreed that “Britain is a tolerant country”

So there you have it – a whole series of areas which should create a lot of passion on CONtinuityIDS website and, of course, in the editorial columns of the Telegraph – which used to be a Tory newspaper.

These areas will surely shape the agenda for Brown to use if he wants to split Cameron from large sections of his party. That looks pretty dangerous for the Tory leader.

For the great power of governments is that they can usually set out what should be the key issues for political debate.

In the general election betting the Labour price on “winning an overall majority” is now tighter than the Tory one.

Note – there are new bets on the PBC Recorded wagers page

Mike Smithson