By KUNA,
London : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown now leads the most unpopular Labour government in history, according to a new poll for The Independent newspaper Thursday.
The public approval ratings of his administration has sunk below the worst achieved during Labour’s darkest days in power in the 1960s and 1970s, when the governments led by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan were engulfed by economic crises.
The figures will alarm already despondent Labour MPs because they call into question the Brown camp’s claims that the Prime Minister can mount a successful political fight back if he steers the country through the current economic storm.
Aides hope that he would then get the credit for enabling Britain to emerge from the global problems in a stronger position than its rivals because of his record during his 10 years as Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Secretary).
John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, in Scotland, who compiled the poll, said “It is probably safe to say that Labour is now in a larger electoral hole than any previous Labour government, and that only John Major’s Conservative government ever had even less polling support.” “So much for New Labour’s claim that it would avoid any repeat of Labour’s record in the 1970s,” he exclaimed.
Only 17 percent of people now approve of the Brown government’s record, while 70 percent disapprove, the poll showed.
The only crumb of comfort for Brown is that his government is not the most unpopular of all time.
According to Professor Curtice, its ratings are now as bad as former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s shortly before she was ousted by her own party in 1990.
But John Major holds the unwanted record; only nine percent approved of his government and 84 percent disapproved.
Brown’s personal ratings have also dropped to a new low.
Only 22 percent of people are satisfied with him, with 70 percent dissatisfied.
Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair’s low point was a score of 25 percent satisfied and 68 percent dissatisfied.