Labour “sleazier” than Major’s Tories
The Labour government is now seen as more sleazy than the administration it replaced, according to a new poll.
Despite Tony Blair’s promises that New Labour would be “whiter than white” when in power, a YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph finds 69 per cent of the public view the government as “very sleazy and disreputable”.
This compares to the 63 per cent of voters who saw the Conservative government under John Major in the same light.
The prime minister has endured a difficult year with scandals engulfing several cabinet ministers, the most recent and lurid of which being the revelations over the private life of John Prescott, the deputy prime minister.
Mr Blair’s troubles deepened earlier this week with the arrest of Lord Levy, the Labour party’s chief fundraiser and a close personal ally, as part of the police investigations into the cash-for-peerages affair.
These latest findings represent a large swing in public perception against the party from when it came to power in 1997. Back then only 19 per cent of the public thought that Labour seemed disreputable.
The situation may deteriorate still further for the government if the prime minister himself becomes part of the ongoing police investigation. He may be questioned after his return from holiday next month.
