How good are these ICM polling numbers for Mandy?
Could he in fact turn some voters off his party?
In its coverage of its ICM poll this morning the Sunday Mirror makes the findings
about the public’s view of Peter Mandelson the main feature.
Those surveyed were asked who they thought “would be best to lead Labour if Mr Brown stood down”. Amongst all voters it was David Miliband on 27%, Jack Straw on 26%, Alas Johnson 15% and Peter Mandelson on 14%.
But amongst those voting Labour the line-up was different. They split: Miliband 23%: Mandelson 21%: Straw 21%. We’ll have to wait for the full data from ICM for the levels for the others.
While this might give a boost to the PM4PM campaign such findings at this stage are often little more than an exercise in name recognition – and this poll took place after a period when Mandy was hardly out of the news.
There’s a sting in the tail of the survey however. As the paper puts it “.. the poll also found just seven per cent of voters said making Mandelson leader was more likely to make them vote Labour with 20 per cent saying it would make them less likely to.”
To me the interesting thing is the prominence that the paper is giving to this. It will be recalled that it was a Sunday Mirror story two weeks ago that reported “details of a secret plot among Labour MPs to pave the way for him to become a candidate.” Having such a media friend might be very useful to Mandy if the opportunity arises.
As regulars will know I’ve got long-shot bets on Mandy, one priced at 200/1. The best next leader price you can get this morning appears to be the 14/1 from Ladbrokes . 
have Mandy at 12/1. I’m not tempted.
The veteran Indy on Sunday columnist, Alan Watkins rubbishes Mandy’s chances while there’s a good piece on the subject by Matthew D-Ancona in the Sunday Telegraph.