Poll suggests Alan Johnson could stop a Tory majority
Could this add to the pressure on Brown?
A new ComRes tonight for tomorrow’s Independent seeks to test how Labour would do if other figures were in Number 10 rather than Gordon Brown. This is how they rated:-
Alan Johnson
CON 36 LAB 26 LD 19
Jack Straw
CON 36 LAB 25 LD 19
David Miliband
CON 37 LAB 25 LD 19
Ed Balls
CON 37 LAB 23 LD 20
John Cruddas
CON 36 LAB 22 LD 21
Gordon Brown
CON 38 LAB 22 LD 20
Harriet Harman
CON 38 LAB 22 LD 20
James Purnell
CON 38 LAB 21 LD 21
There have been very few named leader surveys such as this since Brown took up residence at Number 10 and those that there have been have shown no improvement for Labour with someone else in charge.
The real problem for Brown Central is that there are going to be many more polls like this and each one that shows other ministers doing better is not going to make life comfortable.
Looking at the seat calclulations the Tories would be ten short with Johnson; have a majority of just 10 with Straw; a majority of 30 with David Miliband; 46 with Ed Balls; 42 with John Cruddas and 74 if Brown stays. Only Harman and Purnell do worse.
Clearly Johnson has been boosted by all the recent publicity and favourable coverage that he has been getting. Many of the other names, I would guess, are less well known.