CON 41 (+3) LAB 27% (+1) LD 18 (-2)

Now all the firms have them in the 40s

This the first public survey for the Times by the firm since mid-July and clearly the comparisons above reflect that. The numbers are very much in line with all the other firms and show that there’s been very little movement during the summer.

Populus operates in a manner that’s very similar to ICM and, indeed, the firm usually uses ICM call centres to carry out its fieldwork. The main difference is that for its Times polls has a sample of 1,500 which is the largest of any of the phone pollsters.

There’s bad news for Brown – 65% of those interviewed thought that someone other than him would make a better leader.

Mike Smithson