Britain after Blair Expectations of an early general election, possibly in the spring of 2008, grew on Friday night as two opinion polls showed Labour surging ahead of the Conservatives following Gordon Brown’s accession to the premiership.
As the new prime minister completed his ministerial line-up, bringing in a clutch of non-Labour outsiders, there was undeniable evidence of a “Brown bounce” in the polls, suggesting voters have warmed to Labour in the days since Tony Blair’s departure.
The temptation to call an election, if the rebound is sustained into the autumn, could become too great for Mr Brown despite his instinctive caution. The new prime minister has already put the party on an election footing with the appointment of a senior ally to lead the campaign.
On Friday, he carried out his pledge to form a government “of all the talents”, appointing a former Metropolitan police chief, a leading surgeon, an ex-navy admiral and a brace of Liberal Democrat peers to ministerial and advisory jobs.
There was also a return to government for one of the ringleaders of a backbench revolt that nearly toppled Mr Blair last summer and brought forward his resignation. Tom Watson, who quit as defence minister minutes before he was sacked by Mr Blair, has returned to the whips’ office. Kitty Ussher, a former special adviser turned MP, will be the new City minister, replacing Ed Balls. Shriti Vadera, one of Mr Brown’s former aides at the Treasury, is made a peer and becomes development minister.
Saturday’s twin surveys will add to pressure on David Cameron, the Conservative leader, ahead of a likely shadow cabinet reshuffle that could come as soon as next week. Some frontbench casualties are expected as he seeks to reassert his authority following internal rows over schools policy.
An ICM poll in The Guardian put Labour on 39 per cent, four points ahead of the Tories and seven points up on last month, a potentially election-winning position and the party’s best performance since Mr Cameron took over as leader in 2005.
In The Daily Telegraph, a YouGov poll had Labour on 38 per cent, up five, and the Conservatives on 35 per cent, down four. Respondents put Mr Brown 12 points ahead of Mr Cameron when asked who would make the better leader.
On a busy day for Mr Brown, who faced his first big security test as central London was cordoned off following the discovery of an unexploded car bomb, Lord Stevens, the former Met commissioner, was the most high profile appointment, becoming his international security adviser.
Sir Alan West, a former head of the Royal Navy, was appointed security minister at the Home Office, believed to be the first ministerial appointment of such a senior figure in the armed forces since the Duke of Wellington 200 years ago.
Two Liberal Democrat peers, Baroness Neuberger and Lord Lester, will become advisers on volunteering and constitutional reform.
In all, four new ministers have been brought in from outside the Labour party. They include professor Sir Ara Darzi, one of the country’s top surgeons who joins as health minister charged with improving patient care.
His appointment could be a morale booster for NHS professionals, unsettled by a decade-long permanent revolution of reforms. They now have a voice in government.
Prof Darzi is also a keen advocate of private sector involvement in the NHS, however, and of a clearer split between commissioners and providers of care. His long awaited and potentially controversial report on the reconfiguration of NHS services in London is expected to be published soon.
The full list included moves for Caroline Flint, who became minister for work, and Dawn Primarolo, who switched from the Treasury to health. Mike O’Brien moves to pensions and Liam Byrne stays as immigration minister.
