Stale and under Brown, Labour are heading for an avoidable electoral catastrophe

Lord Turnbull, his former Permanent Secretary, described him as being “cynical, insulting and as ruthless as Stalin”. 72% of voters would not vote for him, according to an ICM/Guardian opinion poll published yesterday. He is a Chancellor who has managed to cut the average gross annual pension by £15,900 (or 77.5%) since 1997, when he stripped them of their tax-free status in his very first budget.

Despite the increasing build-up of hatred for Gordon Brown, a lot of the Labour faithful are strongly in support of his ascent to the Leadership of the Party, and thus the Premiership of the Country. Are they the side of the Party that deserve a medal, or should they be put in straight jackets and chucked in a padded cell (if there are any of them left given Mr. Brown’s funding record), never to be seen again?

One-time leader of the Party (immediately after John Smith died and before Tony Blair’s Leadership began) and incumbent Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, told the BBC’s The Politics Show that she believes that “Gordon Brown is the person who should be the next Prime Minister” and that it “the good thing would be if he is able to concentrate on that will mean and what he needs to do to help to take this country forwards”.

Despite the fact that most of the cabinet (including the four deputy leadership contenders) are supportive of Mr. Brown, there is also a lot of opposition. Charles Clarke, who was left furious after beings sacked as Home Secretary last year, made “a scathing attack on the chancellor’s character and leadership skills” and believes that Environment Secretary David Miliband should challenge Mr. Brown.

It is not just Party members who are opposed to the chancellor taking the top job. As taxes continue to increase stealthily and the economy grows without the electorate seeing the rewards, as statistics build up against Mr. Brown, such as the fact that, for every extra £100 that he has spent since 1997, only £30 has been used to improve frontline public services, Mr. Brown is becoming increasingly unpopular with the public as well.

Yesterday, the Guardian released the results of a poll carried out for them by ICM. Under the headline “Brown as leader would be gift to Tories”, they revealed that the gap between the Conservatives would widen by 5%, with the Conservatives having a Cameron v Blair advantage of 41% to 31% and a Cameron v Brown advantage of 43% to 28%, a massive 15% lead. The Liberal Democrats polled just 18% in both scenarios, under Sir Menzies Campbell.

Despite the opposition, Labour are almost guaranteed to select Mr. Brown to succeed Tony Blair when he stands down later this year, even if there is a Michael Meacher challenge. Some people may think that it is their ticket to a “fresh” look for the Government, others, like myself, believe it to be nothing short of Political suicide.

What is clear, however, is that the public are less-than-happy with the Government, and that, regardless of Mr. Blair’s successor, Labour have a lot of work to do to stay in power.