The irony is that a large majority of voters have long since turned against both Mr Blair and his Government. During the Prime Minister’s first term - between 1997 and 2001 - his administration’s average approval rating was 53 per cent and seldom slipped below 40 per cent. In the past three years, the Government’s approval rating has averaged a mere 29 per cent and has never risen above 40 per cent. Only one voter in three claims to be satisfied with Mr Blair as Prime Minister. Only one in four thinks that the Government has been honest and trustworthy. Events in Iraq and the pervasive sense that this is a Government that spins have taken their toll.
Why, then, are most commentators - and most politicians, including Tory politicians - convinced that Labour will win again on May 5? The answer lies partly in Britain’s booming economy but partly also in the parlous state of the Conservative Party. Since Mrs Thatcher’s time, it has lost a reputation without gaining a philosophy.
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