Brown's govt polled most unpopular in Labour history

London, July 3 : A recent poll conducted by a British daily has found that Prime Minister Gordon Brown is heading the most unpopular Labour Government ever, and that his personal ratings also dropped to a new low, with only 22 per cent of people satisfied with him, and 70 per cent dissatisfied.

According to the findings of the poll, only 17 per cent of people approved of the Brown government's record, while 70 per cent disapproved of it.

The survey by The Independent also found that the public approval ratings of his administration sunk below the worst-achieved during Labour's darkest days in power in the 1960s and 70s, when the governments led by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan were severely hit by economic crises.

John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University, who compiled the "poll of polls", 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 Tory 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."

The only 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 Margaret Thatcher's shortly before she was ousted by her own party in 1990. But, John Major still holds the unwanted record of only 9 per cent approving of his Government and 84 per cent against it.

The Prime Minister's popularity rating is worse than those of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, almost as poor as Baroness Thatcher's in 1990 and not much better than Major's.

ANI